Pope Benedict
XVI'sgeneral prayer intention
for the month of January
2007: "That in
our time, unfortunately
marked by many episodes of violence, the pastors of the Church may
continue to indicate the way of peace and understanding among peoples."
Pope Benedict
XVI'smissionary prayer
intention for January 2007:
"That the Church in
Africa may become a
constantly more authentic witness of the Good News of Christ and be
committed, in every nation, to the promotion of reconciliation and
peace."
Solemnity
of the Blessed Virgin Mary, The Mother of God
(January 1) O marvelous
exchange! Man's Creator has become man, born of
a virgin. We have been made sharers in the divinity of Christ who
humbled himself to share in our humanity. Mary has given birth to a
King whose name is everlasting; hers the joy of motherhood, hers the
virgin's glory. Never was the like seen before, never shall it be seen
again, alleluia. By your miraculous birth of the Virgin you have
fulfilled the Scriptures: like a gentle rain falling upon the earth you
have come down to save your people. O God, we praise you.
God
our Father, may we always profit by the
prayers of the Virgin Mother Mary, for you bring us life and
salvation through Jesus Christ her Son who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.
The shepherds went in
haste to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in
the manger. When they saw this, they made known the message that had
been told them about this child. All who heard it were amazed by what
had been told them by the shepherds. And Mary kept all these things,
reflecting on them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned,
glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it
had been told to them. When eight days were completed for his
circumcision, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel
before he was conceived in the womb.(Luke 2:16-21)
In our Gospel
passage today Luke describes the arrival of the first persons outside
the Holy Family to lay eyes on the infant Messiah. They are the small
group of shepherds who have come in from the hills in the district of
Bethlehem where over a thousand years before David himself had been looking
after sheep (1 Samuel 16:11). In passing, could we not see in their
humble persons
a representation of the great David who, when king, had received
the prophecy (2 Samuel 7:16) that his throne would be established
forever? Could we not see in them the Israel that had awaited the
fulfilment of all the prophecies? They came to see Christ the Lord, but
let us notice who St Luke places at the forefront of our
beautiful scene, which is so full of significance. One would expect
that
Joseph would have been the first to be mentioned among those whom the
shepherds found at their arrival. He was the head of the family. But
no, Mary is the first to be mentioned, for they “found Mary and Joseph,
and the infant lying in the manger.” (Luke 2:16-21) In coming to see the
Christ-child, they first “found” Mary and then Joseph
with her. Presumably Luke had a purpose in expressing this detail. The
wondering shepherds arrive and their hosts - principally Mary, but
together with
Joseph - reveal to them the divine Child. The Son of
God became man and dwelt among us, and this happened through Mary his
mother, supported and assisted by Joseph her husband. Let us place
ourselves among the shepherds, and allow ourselves to be shown the
majestic Child who has come to redeem and sanctify us by giving up his
life for our sakes. If we want to meet Jesus, we could not do better
than approach Mary to ask her, together with Joseph, to show Jesus to
us.
This is the first
day of the new year and we begin it celebrating the glories of Mary.
The Almighty has done great things for her, and holy is his name. All
generations now call her blessed. She is the royal mother all-glorious
in heaven, and what an incomparable dignity is hers as the Mother of
the Son of God made man! Just as the Father entrusted his divine Son to
the womb and the keeping of the Virgin Mary, so undoubtedly does he
entrust each of us who are members of his Son to her keeping too. Just
as she nourished the Son of God, so she nourishes each of us who are
adopted sons of God. This is surely confirmed by the words of her
dying Son when he entrusted his beloved disciple to her care, and
entrusted her to the keeping of his beloved disciple. And then, we are
told, the beloved
disciple
took her to his own home. The Church has always seen in that
interchange at Calvary a transaction which involved each of us. We
received this
great and holy mother to be our own mother, and she received all of us
to be her children. Behind Mary and the Child stands Joseph their
protector, and he now from heaven is the protector of the universal
Church
and each of the Church’s faithful. In celebrating the divine motherhood
of Mary we celebrate the Incarnation of the Son of God and his
redemption of all of us. Let us go to Mary - and to Joseph - to ask of
her that she help us become like her Son. St Paul writes that we are to
let this mind be in us that was in Christ Jesus, and our Lord tells us
in the Gospel that we are to come to him and learn from him for he is
meek and humble of heart. Mary can teach us this and can obtain for us
by her prayers the grace to put on his likeness. She is the help of
Christians.
Let us make a great
resolution this day, at the start of another year, to grow in a true
devotion to Mary, in which we entrust ourselves entirely to her
keeping and promising to do what she wants. Our Lord entrusted himself
to her keeping and our Gospel scene
today is the portrayal of this. Let us resolve to belong to Mary as
her children so that she can lead us to belong entirely to Jesus. She
knows best how to do this. She is the first of all Christians. Let us
entrust it to her, taking to heart what she
said in the Gospel: “Do whatever he tells you.”
(E.J.Tyler)
In times of general confusion
it may seem
as though God is not listening to your pleading with him on behalf of
his souls, and is turning a deaf ear to your calls. You even reach the
point of thinking that all your apostolic labours have been in vain.
Don't worry! Carry on working with the same cheerfulness, the same
energy, the same zeal. Allow me to insist: when you work for God,
nothing is unfruitful.
(The Forge,
no.978)
When did Jesus Christ institute the
Eucharist? Jesus instituted the Eucharist
on Holy Thursday “the night on which he
was betrayed” (1 Corinthians 11:23), as he celebrated the Last Supper
with his apostles. (CCC 1323, 1337-1340)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.272)
Memorial
of Saint Basil the Great and Saint Gregory Nazianzen, bishops and
doctors of the Church
(Tuesday
before the Epiphany)
(January 2) Basil (330-379)
was a brilliant student born of a Christian family in Caesarea,
Cappadocia (Turkey). For some years, he followed the monastic way of
life. He vigorously fought the Arian heresy. He became Bishop of
Caesarea in 370. The monks of the Eastern Churches today still follow
the monastic rule which he set down. (Saints) Gregory
(330-390) was also from Cappadocia. A friend of Basil, he too
followed the monastic way of life for some years. He was ordained
priest and in 381 became Bishop of Constantinople. It was during this
period when the Arian heresy was at its height. He was called “The
Theologian” because of his great learning and talent for oratory. (Saints)
Scripture today: 1 John
2:22-28; Psalm 98:1, 2-3ab,
3cd-4; John 1:19-28
And this is the
testimony of John. When the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and
Levites (to him) to ask him, "Who are you?" he admitted and did not
deny it, but admitted, "I am not the Messiah." So they asked him, "What
are you then? Are you Elijah?" And he said, "I am not." "Are you the
Prophet?" He answered, "No." So they said to him, "Who are you, so we
can give an answer to those who sent us? What do you have to say for
yourself?" He said: "I am 'the voice of one crying out in the desert,
"Make straight the way of the Lord,"' as Isaiah the prophet said." Some
Pharisees were also sent. They asked him, "Why then do you baptize if
you are not the Messiah or Elijah or the Prophet?" John answered them,
"I baptize with water; but there is one among you whom you do not
recognize, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not
worthy to untie." This happened in Bethany across the Jordan, where
John was baptizing.(John 1: 19-28)
Our thoughts during
these days of Christmastide are with the Child and his parents, out of
sight of the world in their human obscurity. In Bethlehem few know of
his existence, and hardly
any know of
his sublime Person and mission. He is the Child of the ages, long
foretold and destined for a kingship that will never end. But how lowly
are his circumstances! Compare his arrival with the fanfare associated
with the arrival of the children of the great, those children who are
princes of this world. With the Christ-child all is silent, simple,
poor in surroundings, and holy. The danger is that, like those who told
the Holy Family that there was no room available for them, we too will
take this Babe for granted and disregard him. There is an old saying,
that familiarity breeds contempt. The point of this one-liner is that
where there is
familiarity such as in a family or workplace it is all too easy for
reverence for the other person to fade away. So too there is a similar
danger in
our relations with Christ our Redeemer. If we do not work at it our
thought of Christ will be reduced to a familiar image that has a
certain place in our everyday memory, but it will lack the holy
awe which
ought mark our love for One who is not only a Person but a divine
Person. And so the Church places before us
today the testimony of John the Baptist (John 1: 19-28). He was slightly older
than Jesus, and though not in the same locality nevertheless as his
relative undoubtedly knew him. He did not yet know that he was the
Messiah to come, but he had a profound appreciation of his transcendent
holiness because when Jesus presented himself to John for baptism, John
professed himself unworthy to do so. Let us take John
as embodying the reverence for Jesus that ought distinguish our
attitude to
him.
So then, let us
listen to the words of John in our Gospel today and make them our own.
"I baptize with water; but there is one among you whom you do not
recognize, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not
worthy to untie" (John
1: 19-28).
John announced the coming of the Messiah - who he was was yet to be
revealed to him - and declared himself not worthy even to undo his
sandal strap.
If we are to gain the reverence towards the person of Jesus which is
his due and which is the foundation of a true love for him, we must at
the very least think carefully about him. That is to say, we must
contemplate
long and lovingly
his very Person. Especially must we take most seriously his divinity.
It was altogether obvious to all that our Lord was human. While the
humanity of Jesus is the way to God, it is not his humanity that
is difficult to appreciate. For this all we need do is exercise our
religious
imagination on what is offered us in the Gospel scenes, and indeed we
must be doing this every day of our lives if we are ever to grow in a
profound love for Jesus. But we must take especially seriously the
testimony of the Gospels that the Man Jesus is divine. This is what
makes this Child of Bethlehem, this Man whom John the Baptist is
referring to in our Gospel today, so utterly, utterly unique. Our
danger today is that of having a casual attitude to Jesus, of being
like so many in his own lifetime - his own townspeople and so many who
saw and heard him - who acted towards him as persons who were not in
the
know. The question of the ages is, where and who is God? Full of
reverence and love, the Christian
answers: There hs is! God is Jesus!
There was recently
talk again of the astronomers trying to determine whether there is any
planet like ours in any galaxy other than our own. If there is, it
would open up the likelihood, so they think, of other humans being
there. Whatever of that, what makes our earth so unique is that the
great God became one of us. This Child of Bethlehem whom we celebrate
in this Christmas season is this one God. Let us ponder the words of
John in
today’s Gospel so as to gain the reverence we ought have for Jesus
Christ.
(E.J.Tyler)
“Make
straight the Lord’s path” as
Isaiah the prophet said. ((John
1: 19-28) Blessed Guerric of Igny
(around 1080 – 1157), Cistercian abbot (Sermon 5 for Advent)
“Prepare the way of the Lord.”
Brothers, even if you have advanced
greatly on this way, you still have to prepare it, so that from the
point where you have already arrived, you might always go forward,
always stretched out towards what is beyond. Thus, since the way has
been prepared for his coming, with every step that you take, the Lord
will come to meet you, always new, always greater. So the righteous
person is right to pray thus: “Instruct me, O Lord, in the way of your
statutes, that I may exactly observe them.” (Ps 119:33) And this way is
called “the path of eternity” (Ps 139:24) … because the goodness of him
towards whom we are advancing is unlimited.
That is why the wise and
determined traveler, even though he has
arrived at the goal, will think of beginning. “Giving no thought to
what lies behind,” (Phil 3:13), he will tell himself every day: “Now I
begin (Ps 76:11 Vulgata) … May it please heaven that we who talk about
advancing on this path might at least have set out! To my
understanding, whoever has set out is already on the good way. However,
we must really begin, find “the way to an inhabited city” (Ps 107:4).
For Truth says: “How few there are who find it!” (Mt 7:14) And many are
those “who go astray in the desert.” (Ps 107:4)
And you, Lord, have prepared a
path for us, if we only agree to go on
it… Through your Law, you have taught us the path of your will by
saying: “This is the way; walk in it, when you would turn to the right
or to the left.” (Isa 30:21) It is the path that the prophet had
promised: “A highway will be there… No fools go astray on it.” (Isa
35:8)… I have never seen a fool going astray when following your path,
Lord… But woe to you who are wise in your own sight (Isa 5:21). Your
wisdom has taken you away from the path of salvation and has not
allowed you to follow the Saviour’s folly… A desirable folly, which at
the time of God’s judgment will be called wisdom and which does not let
us go astray, away from his path.
(Selected by "The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
My child, all the seas of this
world are ours and the places where it is harder to fish are the places
where it is all the more necessary.
(The Forge,
no.979)
How did he institute the Eucharist? After he had gathered with his apostles
in the Cenacle, Jesus took bread in his hands. He broke it and gave it
to them saying, “Take this and eat it, all of you; this is my Body
which will be given up for you”. Then, he took the cup of wine in his
hands and said, “Take this and drink of this, all of you. This is the
cup of my Blood, the Blood of the new and everlasting covenant. It will
be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgive. Do this in
memory of me”. (CCC 1337-1340, 1365, 1406)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.273)
(January 3) Today let us think
of Saint Genevieve(Saints)
Scripture today:
1
John
2:29—3:6; Psalm 98:1, 3cd-4,
5-6; John 1:29-34
John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward
him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the
world. He is the one of whom I said, ‘A man
is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.’
I did not know him, but the reason why I came baptizing with water was
that he might be made known to Israel.” John testified further, saying,
“I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from the sky and remain upon
him. I did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water
told me, ‘On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is
the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ Now I have seen and
testified that he is the Son of God.” (John 1:29-34)
During these days
immediately following Christmas Day and the feast of the Holy Family we
remain with Jesus at Nazareth during his infancy and through his youth
to
manhood. We contemplate those hidden years, undoubtedly years of peace
and joy while buried with Mary and Joseph in God. Their ordinary life
continued in the midst of their wider family circle and the life of the
town. Little did the people know who it really was who was in their
midst all those years, but Mary and Joseph knew. Now, as we think
of the wonder of this hidden phenomenon, the Church places before us
day by day snapshots of the future when Christ’s true person would
begin to be revealed. This assists our contemplation of who it is who
quietly but very industriously works away at his daily tasks at
Nazareth. Today the Church points to the future testimony of John the
Baptist. He sees our Lord coming and points him out to his disciples as
“the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29-34) This is what the angel
had revealed to Joseph before the birth of the Child: he would free his
people from their sins. The angel did not tell Joseph how he would do
it, and John the Baptist gives no evidence of having been told how he
would do it. Joseph was enlightened somewhat by Simeon during the
presentation in the Temple when he heard Simeon say that the Child
would be a sign of rejection, and that his wife Mary’s soul would be
cut through with suffering. John the Baptist's use of the expression
"Lamb of God" may indicate an intimation of a suffering Messiah but he
was certainly perplexed by our Lord's ministry as it began to unfold,
as we see from the question he asked his disciples to put to our Lord.
But both knew that Jesus was the one who would take
away the sin of the world. This is what we are reminded of in today’s
Gospel text. The Jesus who was dwelling in Nazareth would liberate
mankind from sin. What a
task!
That is his
redemptive mission: to take away the sin of the world. But the
testimony of John in today’s text reminds us of more. Yes,
Christ was to take away the sin of the world, but he was also to give
to man the gift of the Holy Spirit. This was a stupendous gift. The
Holy Spirit had been very active in the Old Testament and various
priests, prophets and kings had been endowed with the Spirit of God for
certain tasks. But Jesus had come to baptize with the Holy Spirit. Let
us appreciate the significance of John being the one to say this. He
himself had been baptizing all comers, all who professed repentance.
One gets the impression that great numbers from Jerusalem and various
parts of Judea and Galilee came to John for his baptism. They came,
admitted their sins and asked God’s forgiveness. As an expression of
their repentance and as a token of God’s forgiveness, they received the
baptism of water. John had been sent to administer this baptism. But
now there had arrived the anointed One who was sent to administer a
different baptism to all comers. All who came to him in a spirit of
repentance and faith would receive a baptism with the Holy Spirit. It
would be for all comers who had the necessary dispositions. John’s
baptism was a type of what was soon to come. This would be the gift of
the boy, the youth, the young man at Nazareth to the human race. He
would baptize with the Holy Spirit not just certain specially chosen
prophets or kings, but all who repented and believed. Furthermore, John
tells his hearers that he has “seen and testified” that Jesus is none
other than “the Son of God.” (John 1:29-34) In these words of John
the Baptist we have a rich source of revelation for our contemplation
of the hidden Man of Nazareth during these days of Christmastide.
Let us place
ourselves in the company of Jesus, Mary and Joseph and contemplate
prayerfully their holy persons, so immersed in the ordinary
course of daily life. Their lives at Nazareth were ordinary and it is
clear that they did not stand out. Somehow their unique qualities went
relatively unobserved. How grand was the ordinary life in their case!
Let us resolve to follow them and to put on their mind.
(E.J.Tyler)
“Behold,
the Lamb of God, who takes
away the sin of the world” (John
1:29-34)
J.B.
Bossuet (1627-1704), bishop of Meaux
(Elevations on
mysteries, 24th week, 2nd elevation)
Look at this Lamb of God that
Isaiah saw in spirit as he represented
him as the lamb who would not only let himself be sheared, but also
skinned, and slain without opening his mouth (cf Is 53,7). The same
Lamb of God that Jeremiah saw and represented in his person when he
says: “I, like a trusting lamb led to slaughter” (Jer 11,19). Here he
is, this lamb so sweet, so simple, and so patient, without tricks,
without deceit, that will be immolated for all sinners. He has already
been sacrificed in figure, and one can say in truth that he has been
killed and slain since the foundation of the world (Rv 13,8).
He was slaughtered in Abel the
just; when Abraham had wanted to
sacrifice his son, he started in figure what was going to be
accomplished later on in Jesus Christ. We also see accomplished in him
what had begun with Joseph's brothers: Jesus was hated, persecuted,
pursued to death by his brothers; he was sold in the person of Joseph,
thrown in a tank, meaning sent to his death. He was with Jeremiah in
the deep lake, with the children in the furnace, with Daniel in the
lions' pit. He was the one who was immolated in each sacrifice. He was
in the sacrifice Noah offered as he came out of the ark, when he saw in
the rainbow the sacrament of peace; he was in the sacrifices the
Patriarchs offered on the mountain, in those Moses and all the law
offered in the tabernacle and later on in the Temple: and having never
stopped being immolated in figure, he now is immolated in truth.
(Selected by
"The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Through your Christian
doctrine, your upright life and your work well done, you have to give
good example to the people around you — relatives, friends, colleagues,
neighbours, pupils — in the way you carry out your profession and
fulfil the duties your job entails. You cannot be a shoddy worker.
(The Forge,
no.980)
What does the Eucharist represent in
the life of the Church? It is the source and summit of
all Christian life. In the Eucharist,
the sanctifying action of God in our regard and our worship of him
reach their high point. It contains the whole spiritual good of the
Church, Christ himself, our Pasch. Communion with divine life and the
unity of the People of God are both expressed and effected by the
Eucharist. Through the eucharistic celebration we are united already
with the liturgy of heaven and we have a foretaste of eternal life.
(CCC 1324-1327,1407)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.274)
(January 4) Today let us think
of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton,
religious (Saints)
Scripture today:
1 John
3:7-10; Psalm 98:1, 7-8,
9; John 1:35-42
John was standing with
two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said,
“Behold, the Lamb of God.” The two disciples heard what he said and
followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to
them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which
translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them,
“Come, and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying,
and they stayed with him that day. It was about four in the afternoon.
Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard John
and followed Jesus. He first found his own brother Simon and told him,
“We have found the Messiah,” which is translated Christ. Then he
brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the
son of John; you will be called Cephas,” which is translated Peter.(John
1:35-42)
I have always felt
that among the many beautiful scenes of the Gospel this one at the
beginning of our Lord’s public ministry is especially touching (John
1:35-42).
The scene is played out from the point of view of the two disciples who
had been disciples of John the Baptist - one of whom was Andrew the brother of Simon Peter.
They had been disciples of John and that alone tells us that they were
young men of real quality and had absorbed his teaching. John their
teacher now points them in a new direction. Without requiring it of
them he intimates that
they ought now follow the one whom he calls the Lamb of God. He is
the One who will take away the sin of the world. John has prepared them
to be disciples of the Messiah, helping them to become good soil for
the Word who is God. And so our two disciples, hearing what John said,
followed Jesus. They did so because they were good, and they yearned
for greater goodness in God. At this, our Lord turned and, we may
imagine, with a welcoming smile asked them what they were seeking. He
knew the hearts of men (as St John says later in his Gospel) and he
would have seen at a glance that they were following him because their
hearts were seeking the God of holiness. His simple question led to
their own, in which they asked our Lord where he lived. They were, in
effect, asking him if they could follow him and be in his company. The
very way they addressed our Lord suggests this, for they called him
"Rabbi" (which means Teacher), thus right at the outset placing
themselves in the position of disciples in the presence of a master.
Our
Lord’s invitation was immediate, that they come and see, come and see
for themselves what being in his company and learning from him would be
like. He was saying in effect, yes, come and follow me and consider
being my disciples. They stayed
with hm
for the rest of that day and their lives were sealed.
That was the call.
It was an initial one to be confirmed later on. But what is especially
beautiful is the limpid description of their staying with Jesus for the
rest of
the day. Let us watch them accompanying Jesus along the journey after
their initial meeting. They conversed with him, their hearts wide open
to him because of the high testimony about him given by their former
master, John the
Baptist. They had accepted John’s teaching about him, and now they were
privileged to be in his company and our Lord was fully accepting them
into his friendship. Let us imagine the conversation as they walk on
and as they finally arrive at where our Lord was staying. Perhaps
it was not far from where John had been exercising his ministry and I
suppose it was a dwelling constructed by our Lord himself for the
simple and brief period that he planned to be with John the Baptist.
Our Lord up to that point had been
a carpenter by profession and so the dwelling would have been well up
to the
mark for all
that was needed. So there our Lord received his new friends, extended
to them his hospitality and friendship, and thus he gained his first
disciples and two of the Twelve. The conversation
continued in the little dwelling and grew in depth. It must have been a
profoundly revealing and life changing few hours, because Andrew went
to his brother Simon and told him with evident conviction that he had
found the Messiah. The Messiah! To reach this conviction all it
had needed was the testimony of John
and some prime time with our Lord himself. There is a great lesson for
us here. We
have the testimony of the Scriptures and of the Church’s immense
tradition as to the person of Jesus. What we need to do is to accept
totally
this testimony and then to spend plenty of time with Jesus. He will
draw us into his friendship and reveal himself to us.
So let us resolve
to spend time with Jesus every day and all through our lives. If we do
this he will show himself to us and we shall become his disciples.
Andrew, having come to know Jesus personally and to learn for
himself the truth of what John had testified, went on immediately to
introduce his brother Simon to the Lord. So too, if we come to know
Jesus
through personal prayer and adherence to the Church’s testimony, we
shall be led to bring others to Jesus. Let us then adhere
unfailingly to
the Church’s teaching and make quality prayer central to our lives.
(E.J.Tyler)
“Come
and see.” (John
1:35-42) St Romanus the Melodius (?
- 560) Composer of hymns
(Hymn XVII, § 12-13)
Sin has been effaced;
incorruptibility has been given us (1 Cor 15:53);
the precursor showed us that we have returned to grace by saying:
“There is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” He
showed the certificate of settlement to those who had incurred a heavy
debt. He who had already leapt for joy in his mother’s womb, today
proclaimed it and made known the one who has appeared to us and who has
illumined everything.
The Baptist proclaimed the
mystery. He called the pastor the lamb, and
not just lamb, but the lamb that effaces all our faults. “There is the
Lamb,” he said. From now on, a scapegoat is no longer necessary (Lev
16:21). Raise your hands to him, all of you, by acknowledging your
sins, for he came to take away the sins of the whole world along with
those of the people. From the height of heaven, the Father sent us this
gift: him who has appeared and who has illumined everything.
He has scattered the harmful
night; thanks to him, all is noon. The
light that never sets has shone forth on the world, Jesus our savior.
In this abundance, the land of Zebulun imitates paradise, for the
torrent of delight irrigates it and a stream of ever living water
springs forth there… Today in Galilee, we contemplate the source of
living water, him who has appeared and who has illumined everything
(cf. Mt 4:15-16; Ps 36:9-10).
(Selected
by "The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
That close intimacy you have
with Christ means that you have a duty to
bear fruit. And yours will be a fruit that will satisfy the hunger of
men who come up to you in your work, in your day-to-day life and in
your family environment.
(The Forge,
no.981)
What are the names for this sacrament? The unfathomable richness of
this sacrament is expressed in different
names which evoke its various aspects. The most common names are: the
Eucharist, Holy Mass, the Lord’s Supper, the Breaking of the Bread, the
Eucharistic Celebration, the Memorial of the passion, death and
Resurrection of the Lord, the Holy Sacrifice, the Holy and Divine
Liturgy, the Sacred Mysteries, the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar,
and Holy Communion. (CCC 1328-1332)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.275)
(January 5) Today let us think
of Saint John Neumann,
bishop (Saints)
Scripture today:
1 John
3:11-21; Psalm 100:1b-2, 3, 4, 5;
John 1:43-51
Jesus decided to go to
Galilee, and he found Philip. And Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” Now
Philip was from Bethsaida, the town of Andrew and Peter. Philip found
Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one about whom Moses wrote
in the law, and also the prophets, Jesus, son of Joseph, from
Nazareth.” But Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come from
Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” Jesus saw Nathanael
coming toward him and said of him, “Here is a true child of Israel.
There is no duplicity in him.” Nathanael said to him, “How do you know
me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, I saw
you under the fig tree.” Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the
Son of God; you are the King of Israel.” Jesus answered and said to
him, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig
tree? You will see greater things than this.” And he said to him,
“Amen, amen, I say to you, you will see the sky opened and the angels
of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”(John 1:43-51)
According to St
John’s account of the first meeting between our Lord and some of the
Twelve, it took them very little time to recognize that he was the long
awaited Messiah. We ought try to appreciate the significance of this.
The true Hebrew entertained a great expectation of the
Messiah, for the Scriptures made it plain that the Messiah was to come
and that
through him God would establish his Kingdom. The hopes of
salvation held by the true Israelite were pinned on the Anointed
One. We remember the saintly Simeon and the prophetess Anna who looked
forward to the coming of the Christ. Our Gospel scene today places us
at the threshold of our Lord’s public ministry in the immediate
aftermath of his own baptism and of John the Baptist’s identification
of him as the Messiah. We are told in our passage today that our Lord
“found Philip” - implying that the initiative in Philip’s case came
from our Lord who invited him to “follow me.” (John 1:43-51)
It seems that Philip responded immediately and told Nathanael that “we
have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the
prophets, Jesus”. So Philip had quickly and definitively arrived at the
truth about Jesus: Jesus of Nazareth was the fulfilment of the Law and
the prophets. Our gaze then turns to Nathanael to whom Philip had given
his testimony. Nathanael seems to have been doubtful in view of our
Lord’s town of origin, but again it did not take long for Nathanael to
decide that Jesus was “the Son of God”, the “King of Israel.” At his
first encounter with Jesus, in a matter of seconds, he attained the
very goal of John’s Gospel which was
that it might be seen that “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and
that believing
this you may have life in his name” (John 20:31).
How do we account
for this speedy acquisition of divine faith on the part of the first
disciples mentioned here? We are given an important clue in the very
words of our Lord as he sees Nathanael approaching him. “Jesus saw
Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, ‘Here is a true child of
Israel. There is no duplicity in him’.” Nathanael was a person who
lived in the truth and would have nothing to do with anything but
the truth. He was disposed from the depths of his heart to accept and
to perceive the truth and especially the truth coming from God. That is
to say, fundamental dispositions have everything to do with arriving at
the truth about God and, in particular, about Jesus. So very much
depends on where we are coming from, on our fundamental starting
points, on what we regard as truly important, on what we are expecting
- in a word, on our basic dispositions. The good man will differ in
these respects from the one who is not good. The problem is that we are
generally quite unaware of where we are coming from - this is something
only God knows because he alone sees our hearts. Therefore we must pray
that God will gradually give us the right starting points, the right
first principles and basic assumptions that will direct us to the truth
of Christ. All the testimony in the world about Christ will not help us
if our tastes, our preferences and our will is not properly disposed.
That having been said, at the same time what is also evident from our
Gospel
text is that the testimony of others played a very important part in
bringing these first apostles to Christ. In our case today, it was the
testimony of Philip that led Nathanael to Jesus. In yesterday’s Gospel
passage it was the testimony of Andrew that led Simon his brother to
Jesus.
So then, let us
pray for grace to be good soil open to the seed that is the word of
God, and for others to be good soil too. Let us also pray that we shall
be open to the testimony given to us especially by the Church our
mother, and by all those who have come to know the Lord. Let us also
pray that others will be moved by the grace of God to listen docilely
to the testimony to Christ offered to them during the course of their
life. If a person is properly disposed and open to the Church's
testimony he will discover the God of revelation.
(E.J.Tyler)
“You
shall see the sky opened” (John 1:43-51) Guillaume of Saint-Thierry
(around 1085-1148), Benedictine, then Cistercian monk
(Meditative prayers
VI, 5-7)
If it is enough to see two or
three united in your name here below so
as to see you in their midst (Mt 18:20) …, what can we say about the
place where you have united all the saints who have “made a covenant
with you by sacrifice” and who have become like “the heavens that
proclaim your justice”? (Ps 50:5-6)
Your beloved disciple was not
the only one who found the path that
ascends to heaven; he was not the only one to whom an open door in
heaven was shown (Rev 4:1). For you declared it to everyone by your own
mouth: “I am the door. Whoever enters through me will be safe.” (Jn
10:9) So you are the door, and according to what you added, you open it
to everyone who wants to enter.
But of what use is it to us to
see an open door in heaven while we are
on earth, if we don’t have the means to ascend there? Saint Paul gives
us the answer: “He who ascended is the very one who descended.” (Eph
4:9) Who is he? Love. For, Lord, it is love that goes up to you from
our hearts, because it is love that came down from you to us. Because
you loved us, you came down to us; by loving you, we will be able to
ascend to you. You who said: “I am the door,” in your name I beg you to
open yourself before us. Then we will see more clearly to which
dwelling you are the door and when and to whom you open it.
(Selected by "The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
Where does the Eucharist fit in the
divine plan of salvation? The Eucharist was foreshadowed
in the Old Covenant above all in the
annual Passover meal celebrated every year by the Jews with unleavened
bread to commemorate their hasty, liberating departure from Egypt.
Jesus foretold it in his teaching and he instituted it when he
celebrated the Last Supper with his apostles in a Passover meal. The
Church, faithful to the command of her Lord, “Do this in memory of me”
(1 Corinthians 11:24), has always celebrated the Eucharist, especially
on Sunday, the day of the Resurrection of Jesus. (CCC 1333-1344)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.276)
(January 6) Today let us think
of Blessed Andre Bessett(Saints)
Scripture today: 1 John
5:5-13; Psalm 147:12-13, 14-15, 19-20; Mark
1:7-11 or Luke 3:23-38
When Jesus began his
ministry he was about thirty years of age. He was the son, as was
thought, of Joseph, the son of Heli, the son of Melea, the son of
Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, the
son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Sala, the
son of Nahshon, the son of Amminadab, the son of Admin, the son of
Arni, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, the son of
Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son
of Nahor, the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the
son of Noah, the son of Lamech, the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the
son of Adam, the son of God.(Luke 3:23,
31-34, 36, 38)
or
This is what John the
Baptist proclaimed: “One mightier than I is coming after me. I am not
worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals. I have baptized
you with water; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” It happened
in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized
in the Jordan by John. On coming up out of the water he saw the heavens
being torn open and the Spirit, like a
dove, descending upon him. And a voice came from the heavens, “You are
my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”(Mark 1:7-11)
Each day during this
brief season of Christmastide we are contemplating in the Gospel
passages various aspects of
the person of Jesus, born in Bethlehem and raised in Nazareth. Today we
have two alternative Gospel texts, one from Mark and the other from
Luke,
to help us in our prayerful consideration
of Jesus. In each text we are taken to the threshold of his public
ministry,
and in introducing us to him Luke gives us a genealogy which traces our
Lord back to David, Abraham and Adam (Luke
3:23, 31-34, 36, 38). That is to say Jesus
Christ is a
true member of our human race and a true Hebrew. He is no angel, no
demiurge or exalted creature such as the fourth century Arius described
him. No, he is
truly a man. He is a man with a mission far beyond any other. In the
history of the world and in the history of religions, who ever heard of
a man with the mission to take away the sin of the world and to pour
out the Spirit of God on mankind? Even if, outside of the revelation
vouchsafed us by God, there were to be a person or a tradition which
recognized the fact and unimaginable proportions of the world’s sin,
who would know how to take it away? I once watched a television debate
between a Jewish rabbi and a Christian (protestant) theologian. It was
interesting to see that the Jewish rabbi did not allow for the world
being under the power of a transmitted original sin and that this sin
was able to be removed. Islam does not accept the notion of “the sin of
the world” into which man is born, and from which man needs to be, and
has been,
redeemed. Such views exclude the need of a Redeemer of the world in the
Christian sense. Now, this is exactly what Christianity professes, and
the Redeemer is a man like us in all things - except, of course, that
he is free of the sin from which he came to redeem us.
Thus Luke's passage
shows Jesus to be a man like
us. But he is far more as well. In our alternative Gospel text today St
Mark
tells us that “on coming up out of the water he saw the heavens being
torn open and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon him. And a voice
came from the heavens, ‘You are my beloved Son; with you I am well
pleased’.”(Mark
1:7-11) God
is manifestly speaking and he is revealing something more about the man
Jesus. Jesus is his beloved Son and this is how our Lord constantly
refers
to himself. He himself is “the Son” and God is his “Father”. We
remember how the angel told Joseph in a dream that the
Child would be “called the Son of the
Most High.” When Mary and Joseph
found the boy Jesus in the Temple after their three day search, he told
them that he had been about the affairs (or in the house) of “my
Father.” Nor did our Lord authorize any of his disciples to speak of
God as “my
Father” in the same sense that he did. On rising from the dead he told
Mary Magdalene to go to the brothers and tell them that he was
ascending to “to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God’.”
On the occasion of his baptism as narrated in our Gospel today, then,
we have a manifestation of the
three persons who are the One God. The Father speaks from heaven, the
Holy Spirit descends upon Jesus, and Jesus himself is shown to be the
Son. So while
Jesus is truly man, he is at the same time one of the three divine
persons, and he comes from the bosom of the Father. He is not simply
the most exalted of God's creatures, as Arius would have it. We ought
never get
over the historical phenomenon of one who was truly man and who was God
the Son, the very
same God as is the Father. His coming among us revealed the Blessed
Trinity and enabled us to share their life. Let us preserve in our
hearts a holy and reverential wonder at the mystery of the incarnation
of the Son of God.
St Paul writes in one of
his Letters that in Christ we have been granted every heavenly
blessing. How could this not be so if we accept that the man Jesus is
the promised Messiah and the Son of God? There is no blessing in heaven
or on earth greater than he. He is God’s gift to our race, and in him
we find light and all that our hearts are made for. God made us for
Jesus. Jesus is the object of our life and the object of all creation.
If we totally accept him as such and live accordingly, God will be all
in all.
(E.J.Tyler)
"Jesus..
was ..... the son of Adam"(Luke 3:23,
31-34, 36, 38) St Irenaeus of Lyons,
(130- 208), bishop, theologian and martyr (Against Heresies,
III, 22, 3.4; 23,1)
Wherefore Luke points out that
the pedigree which traces the generation of our Lord back to Adam
contains seventy-two generations, connecting the end with the
beginning, and implying that it is He who has summed up in Himself all
nations dispersed from Adam downwards, and all languages and
generations of men, together with Adam himself. Hence also was Adam
himself termed by Paul "the figure of Him that was to come," (Rom 5:14)
because the Word, the Maker of all things, had formed beforehand for
Himself the future dispensation of the human race, connected with the
Son of God…
For the Lord, having been born
"the First-begotten of the dead (Col 1:18), and receiving into his
bosom the ancient fathers, has regenerated them into the life of God,
He having been made Himself the beginning of those that live, as Adam
became the beginning of those who die. Wherefore also Luke, commencing
the genealogy with the Lord, carried it back to Adam, indicating that
it was He who regenerated them into the Gospel of life, and not they
Him. And thus also it was that the knot of Eve's disobedience was
loosed by the obedience of Mary. For what the virgin Eve had bound fast
through unbelief, this did the Virgin Mary set free through faith.
It was necessary, therefore,
that the Lord, coming to the lost sheep, and making recapitulation of
so comprehensive a dispensation, and seeking after His own handiwork,
should save that very man who had been created after His image and
likeness, that is, Adam.
(Selected by "The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
How is the celebration of the Holy
Eucharist carried out? The Eucharist unfolds in two
great parts which together form one, single act of worship. The Liturgy
of the Word involves proclaiming and listening to the Word of God. The
Liturgy of the Eucharist includes the presentation of the bread and
wine, the prayer or the anaphora containing the words of consecration,
and communion. (CCC 1345-1355, 1408)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.277)
(January 7) St
Raymond of Penyafort, priest (1175-1275). Born in Barcelona,
Spain, he was the third Superior-General of the Dominican Order. He is
famous for his work in the freeing of slaves. He wrote the five books
of the Decretals which are now a valuable part of the Canon Law of the
Church. The Summa Casuum, which is about the correct and fruitful
administration of the Sacrament of Penance, is the most notable of his
works. (Saints)
When Jesus was born in
Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold, magi from the
east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, "Where is the newborn king of the
Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage."
When King Herod heard this, he was greatly troubled, and all Jerusalem
with him. Assembling all the chief priests and the scribes of the
people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They said
to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it has been written through
the prophet: 'And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least
among the rulers of Judah; since from you shall come a ruler, who is to
shepherd my people Israel.'" Then Herod called the magi secretly and
ascertained from them the time of the star's appearance. He sent them
to Bethlehem and said, "Go and search diligently for the child. When
you have found him, bring me word, that I too may go and do him
homage." After their audience with the king they set out. And behold,
the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, until it came
and stopped over the place where the child was. They were overjoyed at
seeing the star, and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary
his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then they
opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and
myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they
departed for their country by another way.(Matthew 2,1-12)
Any student
of literature will know that discussion about the significance of
certain great works goes on endlessly. Shakespeare lived four hundred
years ago and produced a body of drama and poetry that is the work of
genius, and there is no end to the analysis that it has generated. In
effect it means that it is very difficult to arrive definitively at an
agreed meaning of various of his works because within a short time that meaning
will be challenged by yet another Shakespearean scholar. And so
it is in so many fields of human learning. Well then, what are we to
say of the
greatest personality of human history, and the thoughts of men about
him? That person is Jesus of Nazareth, and ever since our Lord asked
his disciples what men were saying of him, judgments about
the meaning of his life have been unending. But in his case there is
this
difference that we can determine definitively the meaning of his life
because it is not up to the ebb and flow of private judgment. There is
a divinely constituted authority. The significance of Christ and his
work is set forth in the Creed and in the dogmas and
formal teachings of the Church. No one can overturn them and they are
to be accepted with confidence as coming from God who guides the Church
in her understanding of and teaching about Jesus. For instance, the
Nicene Creed
which we recite every Sunday at Mass tells us that “for us men and for
our salvation he came down from heaven”. That tells us the meaning of
Christ’s life and work. Or again, we read in the Gospel of St John that
“there were many other signs that Jesus worked and the disciples saw,
but they are not recorded in this book. These are recorded so that you
may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that
believing this you may have life through his name” (John 20:31). In
that inspired sentence it is clearly stated who Christ is and how we
are to interpret his work and the various events of his life, such as
the Epiphany of the Lord which we are celebrating today.
We are in
the liturgical season of Christmastide and today we think of the
manifestation of our Lord to the wise men from the East. I suppose many
other
incidents in our Lord’s infancy could have been described in the
Gospel, but this quiet but unusual event was selected by St
Matthew because it illustrated a point of great significance in the
life and mission of Jesus (Matthew 2,1-12). One of the especially
notable features of St Matthew’s Gospel is that he shows that Jesus is
a Hebrew descended directly from Abraham, and his person, his life and
his work are the fulfilment of
the Hebrew Scriptures and the expectations of the chosen people of
Israel.
But Matthew also shows that he is not just a great Hebrew for the
Hebrews.
He is the Saviour of the world, the King of all kings and the Lord of
all lords, the Redeemer of all men of all ages, the one and only way to
the Father for all, the light of the world for all men. By him all
the nations will be blessed. Thus it was that after he rose from the
dead our Lord said that all authority in heaven and on earth had been
given to him, and that therefore his disciples were to go to the whole
world and make disciples of all the nations. He was not just one
prophet among many as Islam would have it, nor even just the greatest
(which Islam does not allow). He was not just - as
the Dalai Lama once said - one more instance of the Buddha. No, he is
the one and only Redeemer of men, the world’s only totally sufficient
and true Light. That this was at the forefront of the divine mind we
see in the fact of God choosing to lead some wise men (we are not told
the
number) from the pagan East to venerate the newborn Child. It is, we
could say, the Father celebrating the arrival of his Son among us with
a quiet but significant gesture. Pagans, acting according to their
lights and assisted from heaven, came from afar. Without realizing it,
in
their persons they symbolically presented the entire Gentile world
before this infant who was King of the Jews and King of the world. They
were a symbol of the vocation of mankind to prostrate before this
Child. They were a
harbinger of countless others down through the ages who would accept
Christ as their King. Indeed, we ourselves were represented by those
wise men from the East, because we who accept and love Christ are not
sprung from the race of David, but from various other peoples.
Let us
prayerfully remember the visit of the wise men as they paid homage to
the infant King. With the certain knowledge we have of who this Child
is and of the meaning of his life, death and resurrection for the
redemption and sanctification of all mankind, let us gratefully receive
him into our hearts as our Lord and King, and resolve to bring others
to the knowledge and love of him who is King of the ages.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further reading: The Catechism of the
Catholic Church, no.514-521
“They prostrated themselves and did
him homage.” (Matthew 2,1-12) St John Chrysostom
(345 – 407), Bishop of Antioch, then of Constantinople, Doctor of the
Church
(Homilies
on St. Matthew, 7-8)
Brothers, let us follow the magi, let us leave our pagan customs. Let
us depart! Let us make a long journey so as to see Christ. If the magi
had not left and gone a long way from their country, they would not
have seen Christ. Let us also leave earth’s interests. So long as they
remained in their country, the magi saw only the star; but when they
left their homeland, they saw the Sun of justice (Mal 3:20). Or rather,
let us say: if they had not generously set out on their journey, they
would not even have seen the star. Thus, let us also rise up, and even
if everyone in Jerusalem is troubled, let us run to where the Child is…
“On entering the house, they found the child with Mary his mother. They
prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then they opened their
coffers and presented him with gifts.” What motivated them to prostrate
themselves before this child? There was nothing remarkable in the
Virgin or in the house, no object that could have struck their eye and
attracted them. And yet, not content with prostrating themselves, they
opened their treasure, gifts that are not given to a human being but
only to God – frankincense and myrrh symbolize divinity. What was their
reason for acting in this way? The same as that which made them decide
to leave their homeland, to depart on this long journey. It was the
star, that is to say, the light with which God had filled their heart
and which led them little by little to a more perfect knowledge. If
there hadn’t been that light, how could they have given such homage
when what they saw was so poor and humble? If there is not material
grandeur but only a crib, a stable, a mother who is lacking in
everything, it is so that you might see the magi’s wisdom more clearly,
so that you understand that they came not to a human being but to a
God, to their benefactor.
(Selected by "The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
As well as having
given you abundant and
effective grace, the Lord has given you a brain, a pair of hands and
intellectual powers so that your talents may yield fruit. God wants to
work miracles all the time — to raise the dead, make the deaf hear,
restore sight to the blind, enable the lame to walk... — through your
sanctified professional work, which you will have turned into a
holocaust that is both pleasing to God and useful to souls.
(The Forge,
no.984)
Who
is the minister for the celebration of the Eucharist?
The celebrant of the Eucharist is a validly ordained priest (bishop or
priest) who acts in the Person of Christ the Head and in the name of
the Church. (CCC 1348, 1411)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.278)
Thoughts on
the Epiphany, by Fr Gerald O’Collins SJ
Led by a flickering
star
The Epiphany, the traditional name for
the feast celebrated on 6 January (this year on 7 January for the first
time in the Catholic Church in England and Wales) means manifestation,
recalling how Christ was disclosed in his divine identity to the Magi,
remarkable figures from the East who represented all those from around
the world who would also come to pay homage to him. In the way he tells
the story of the Magi, Matthew inserts at least three contrasts:
opportunities lost or taken, human wickedness overcome by the loving
goodness of God, and a birth that prefigures a violent death.
Matthew packs a lot into his story of the coming of the Magi, and
Christian tradition has elaborated the story even further. Since the
wise men brought three gifts for the Christ Child, they were quickly
assumed to be three in number and were supplied with names: Caspar,
Melchior, Balthasar. They were understood to represent the three known
continents (Asia, Europe and Africa), which explains why painters
usually represented one of them (Balthasar) as black.
Matthew calls them "Magi" - that is to say, learned astronomers found
in ancient Persia. Tradition soon upgraded them and they became
oriental kings, a splendid gift for later artists who supplied them
with crowns, decked them out in exotic clothing, and provided them with
camels for their transport. Hollywood has followed suit. Riding through
the desert the Magi filled the screen brilliantly in the current film
The Nativity Story (see The Tablet, 9 December 2006).
The rich gifts that the Magi took from their treasure chests and
presented to the Holy Child pointed to his unique dignity as "Emmanuel"
or "God-with-us", and the value of these gifts underlined the worship
that the Magi offered when they knelt before him. The Nativity Story
captures their reverent homage with fresh intensity.
From early times Christians inevitably wanted to detect a particular
significance in each of their gifts. The gold was believed to symbolise
the royal kingship of Christ, the frankincense to indicate his
divinity, and the myrrh to symbolise the mortal human condition that
the Son of God assumed at his conception and birth. Since myrrh was
used in the Middle East to embalm corpses, it was understood to refer,
specifically, to Christ's coming Passion, death and burial. In the
popular carol We Three Kings of Orient Are, a whole verse is dedicated
to that gift: "Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume/ breathes a life of
gathering gloom;/ sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying,/ sealed in the
stone-cold tomb."
St Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), despite being blessed with a
mystical prayer-life, endorsed a different, down-to-earth explanation
of the three gifts. The gold was to support the Holy Family on their
journey to Egypt, the incense was to freshen the atmosphere in the
stinking stable, and the myrrh was to deliver the newborn Christ Child
from any worms that infested his intestines.
In these and further ways Christian tradition embroidered the story of
the Magi. But while all this gorgeous overlay may be innocent and
sometimes helpful, it could distract us from Matthew's central message
that is rich in detail.
His narrative is structured by several vivid contrasts. First, the Magi
come from a great distance, and do not know the Holy Scriptures that
might otherwise have guided them directly to Bethlehem. They are led by
a flickering star - or by three planets that come together in a rare
coincidence (if you follow the theory adopted by The Nativity Story).
Yet they reach the goal of their journey and find their holy grail, the
Christ Child himself. Before doing so, they stop in Jerusalem and
enquire as to the whereabouts of "the Child who has been born king of
the Jews". Their question startles not only King Herod but also "all
Jerusalem with him" (Matthew 2: 3).
Herod calls together "all the chief priests and scribes of the people".
They tell him that, according to the biblical promise, the Messiah is
to be born in nearby Bethlehem. Herod sends the Magi on their way to
Bethlehem to locate for him the newborn Messiah, pretending that he too
wants to pay homage to him. Some of the priests, scribes or other
inhabitants of Jerusalem could easily have joined the Magi on the short
journey from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, but none of them does so. Those
who possess the Holy Scriptures and live near the birthplace of Christ
fail to take advantage of their blessings. Those who live far away make
the most of the few chances they have been given and succeed in
discovering their Saviour.
The theme of lost opportunities haunts Matthew. The Magi are the first
example of Gentile outsiders who, unlike many of Matthew's fellow Jews,
win their way through to faith in Jesus. The most striking example of
such a person turns up straight after the death of Jesus. The
centurion, the officer who has been in charge of the Crucifixion,
blurts out a confession, in which he is joined by the soldiers with
him: "Indeed, this man was the Son of God" (Matthew 27: 54). The gospel
ends with the risen Christ commissioning his close followers to "make
disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28: 19). Clearly Matthew rejoices
that the divine salvation goes out to the whole world. But he obviously
feels pain at what contrasts with this mission to the Gentiles - the
failure of many Jews to accept and believe in Jesus.
In another contrast King Herod "the Great" is set against the Holy
Family and the Magi. An odious tyrant, Herod was bent on acquiring loot
and retaining dominance for himself and his family. In old age he is as
paranoid as ever, and fears that the newborn Messiah announced by the
Magi will threaten the power he wants to pass on to his sons - in
particular, to Herod Antipas, whom The Nativity Story rightly
characterises as slimy and loathsome. Those who stand obediently with
God - Mary, her Child, Joseph, and the Magi - seem weak and defenceless
against the ruthless might and cunning of King Herod.
But God transforms the situation and rescues them in good time. In the
short or the long run, the gracious goodness of God proves more
powerful than any human wickedness.
When they eventually find the Holy Child, the Magi experience
overwhelming joy. But their question ("Where is the child who has been
born king of the Jews?") foreshadows his coming Passion and death. The
question will receive an extended answer when Jesus is condemned,
mocked and then crucified as "the King of the Jews" (Matthew 27: 11,
29, 37, 42). In this third contrast, birth and death are set off
against each other. The swaddling clothes that cover the Baby prefigure
the shroud in which he will be buried.
The Nativity Story displays shining happiness on the faces not only of
Mary and Joseph but also of the Magi and the shepherds when they
worship the Christ Child. Yet their great joy at this birth is
overshadowed by death that quickly threatens the newborn Jesus. Herod
sends troops and has all the other little boys in Bethlehem massacred.
The Holy Child himself will eventually die on a Cross under the
inscription "King of the Jews". But above all, Matthew wants his
readers to join the Magi in their overwhelming joy at the coming of the
Holy Child. Christ has been born for us.
The people were filled
with expectation, and all were asking in their hearts whether John
might be the Christ. John answered them all, saying, “I am baptizing
you with water, but one mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to
loosen the thongs of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy
Spirit and fire.” After all the people had been baptized and Jesus also
had been baptized and was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy
Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came
from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”(Luke
3:15-16, 21-22)
Today we think of
the beginning of our Lord’s public ministry when he joins the people in
receiving baptism from John. He has left what were thirty undoubtedly
happy years with Mary and Joseph in Nazareth and now he is setting out
to make the world new at its roots. There is no work like it in all of
history. His mission is to redeem the world from sin and establish the
Kingdom of his Father here on earth. He begins
by going to John
and identifying with sinful men, his brothers of the human race. He,
the sinless One, steps forward for the baptism of admitting personal
sin and seeking the pardon of God. That he was a person of resounding
and utter holiness we see from John’s words to him when he came forward
for baptism: “It is I who ought be baptized by you, and you are coming
to me?” (Matthew 3:14). John said that to no one else. He knew he was a
sinner in the presence of the sinless One. It all shows the simple
humility of Jesus. He did not look for the glory that was his due and
was content to be counted with his sinful brothers. In observing the
humility of Jesus, let us remember that he is the image of the Father:
“he who sees me sees the Father.” Our Lord reflected the heart of the
Father, and so just as our Lord was meek and humble of heart, so is the
Father. The Father, then, identifies with our Lord as he humbly takes
the part of sinners. Inasmuch as the life and dynamism of God is the
Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is the spirit of humility. God is humble
then, and we see this being revealed in the baptism of our Lord. Our
Lord humbly unites himself with sinful man and while being sinless will
go to the very depths of the sin of the world in order to take it away.
(Luke 3:15-16,
21-22)
So in his baptism
at the river Jordan our Lord unites himself
with sinful man. At our baptism by water and the Spirit we are united
with Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. At his baptism he went
down into the waters of sin, as it were, and by this first step towards
his Cross and death he began the process of taking away the sin of the
world. At the moment of our baptism, by the power of the Holy Spirit we
are
united to Christ in his dying for us. It is by that death that the sin
of the world was broken, and by our baptism we enter into that cosmic
event and benefit personally by it.
This stupendous miracle is made possible in our simple baptism. Somehow
and very mysteriously at the instant of our baptism we are united with
our Lord at the point when sin’s inexorable grip on the world and on
each soul was forcibly released. It happened when our Lord was immersed
in mankind’s sin at Calvary. Sin poured over him in death, and he the
sinless and obedient One sank to its depths. Thus did he expiate for
the disobedience of man, and for this reason he was raised up on high.
By his obedience he triumphed, and at our baptism the Spirit of God
unites us with Jesus in his dying and rising. Thus while at his baptism
in the Jordan he unites himself with sinful man, at our baptism we are
united with our sinless Lord. Through this means the newly baptized is
rendered sinless and made a child of God in Jesus, the only-begotten
Son of God. As we contemplate the all-holy Jesus joining sinful man in
the confession of sin let us think of how at our baptism we unite with
the all holy Jesus for the complete taking away of sin. So let us renew
our baptismal promises to renounce sin, to fight against it, to avail
ourselves of the Sacrament of Penance regularly, and to live in Jesus.
The baptism of our
Lord marked the beginning of his public ministry. Our baptism marks the
beginning of our life in Christ and our combat with sin. The good news
is that we can win the fight if we fight all our life in union with
Jesus who has gained the victory for us. Let us never give up.
(E.J.Tyler)
“It is in this way that we must perfectly accomplish what is just”
(Matthew 3:13-17) Saint Gregory of Nazianzus
(330-390), bishop, doctor of the Church
(Sermon 39;
PG 36, 359-363)
The Christ is illuminated; let us take part in his splendor. The Christ
is baptized; let us go down with him into the water so that we may come
out of it with him...
John baptizes, Jesus comes to him; he comes sanctify the one by whom he
himself is baptized. He comes drown in the water the old Adam,
entirely, and for this reason, and before doing so, he consecrates the
water of the Jordan. He, who is spirit and flesh, wants to perfect man
through water and spirit (Jn 3,4). The Baptist refuses and Jesus
insists. “I am the one who needs to be baptized by you” says the lamp
to the Sun (Jn 5,35), the best man to the groom (Jn 3,29), the greatest
man born of a woman to the first-born of all creatures (Mt 11,11; Col
1,15).
Jesus comes out of the water, carrying along with him in this elevation
the whole universe. He sees the skies open up, the same skies that in
the past Adam had closed to himself and to his people, this paradise
that had been locked up and guarded like by a fiery revolving sword (Gn
3,24). The Spirit bears witness to the divinity of Christ; he comes
rejoin his equal. And a voice comes down from the sky, for it is from
the sky that the one to whom he testifies comes from. And a dove makes
itself visible to the eyes of the flesh in order to honor our flesh
became divine.
(Selected by "The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
The day you no longer strive to draw
others closer to God — since you ought to be a burning coal all the
time — you will become a contemptible piece of charcoal, or a handful
of ashes to be scattered by the slightest puff of wind. You have to be
on fire; you need to be a thing that burns, producing flames of the
love of God, of faithfulness and apostolate.
(The Forge,
no.985)
What are
the essential and necessary elements for celebrating the Eucharist?
The essential elements are wheat bread and grape wine. (CCC 1412)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.279)
(January 9) Today let us think of Saint Adrian of Canterbury(Saints)
Scripture today: Hebrews
2:5-12; Psalm 8:2ab and 5, 6-7,
8-9; Mark 1:21-28
Jesus came to Capernaum
with his followers, and on the sabbath he entered the synagogue and
taught. The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them
as one having authority and not as the scribes. In their synagogue was
a man with an unclean spirit; he cried out, “What have you to do with
us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you
are—the Holy One of God!” Jesus rebuked him and said, “Quiet! Come out
of him!” The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out
of him. All were amazed and asked one another, “What is this? A new
teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits and they
obey him.” His fame spread everywhere throughout the whole region of
Galilee. (Mark 1:21-28)
Yesterday we
celebrated the feast of the Baptism of our Lord which marked the
beginning of his public life, and today we begin what the Church calls
the Ordinary Time of the Liturgical Year. It is a time that runs for
some thirty four weeks, interrupted at various points by special
liturgical seasons such as Lent and Eastertide. During this long period
of the year we contemplate our Lord engaged in his public ministry and giving his teaching as it is
presented to us in the four Gospels. Today we begin our daily
presence in our Lord’s company by contemplating him right at the start
of his ministry,
as it is narrated by St Mark - whose source was probably the preaching
of St
Peter. Jesus has been baptized. He has returned to Galilee and has
begun
his preaching there with the announcement that the kingdom of God is at
hand. “Repent, and believe the Good News.” He has also called Simon and
Andrew, and John and James, to follow him (Mark 1:14-20). In our
Gospel text today (Mark 1:21-28) he comes to Capernaum -
and we know from St Luke's Gospel the difficult circumstances of his
leaving Nazareth - and he enters the synagogue to teach. Let us imagine
this scene,
remembering that Capernaum was the home town of Simon and Andrew, and
it seems that our Lord made their home his base for his activities in
the region. What is recorded here of our Lord’s first showing in the
synagogue of Capernaum may, as I mentioned above, come from Simon Peter
himself. The “people were astonished at his teaching”, and why was
this? It was because “he taught them as one having authority and not as
the scribes.” He was the greatest authority they had ever heard,
and his authority to teach was utterly manifest.
So the impression
people had of Jesus was of a person of striking and singular authority,
and who spoke as one who knew he had this unassailable authority.
Whenever he taught he gave the impression that he simply knew the truth
and had full authority to pronounce on it. No one was
in any position to dispute with him - such was the impression. Of
course, many would come to dispute with him, especially his enemies
from among
the Pharisees and scribes. But he spoke as if no opinion contrary to
what he taught could be entertained as correct. He did not present
his teaching as a personal thesis, or in the way erudite scholars of
the Law
weighed up and discussed the validity or otherwise of other views.
No, he spoke as one who had the full truth, and as if his teaching
alone was correct. He spoke without any
fear of contradiction as if he was the supreme authority. There is a
second sense in which he spoke with authority. He spoke with authority
over evil and unclean spirits. He commanded them with authority. “In
their synagogue was a man with an
unclean spirit; he cried out, 'What have you to do with us, Jesus of
Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One
of God!' Jesus rebuked him and said, 'Quiet! Come out of him!' The
unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out of
him.” (Mark
1:21-28). Even the devils he was expelling declared
helplessly that he was the holy One, and he was obviously full of
knowledge
and power. And so “all were amazed and asked one another, 'What is
this? A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean
spirits and they obey him.' His fame spread everywhere throughout the
whole region of Galilee” (Mark
1:21-28).
The wonderful thing
is that this Jesus lives. He lives in our midst as the head of the
Church, and this same Person who is our fount of holiness acts with
authority even now. We look to him as he teaches in the life of the
Church and
through the ministry of the Church’s pastors, especially the chief
pastor the Pope. He acts with power bringing God’s mercy to the
Church’s faithful in her sacraments and ministry. Let us then resolve
to be alive to the presence in the Church of this same Jesus,
exercising his ministry still in our parishes, in our families, in our
schools, and wherever his faithful are striving to bring the love of
God to souls.
(E. J. Tyler) To view a live
recording of this reflection on today's Gospel, click here
“Jesus rebuked him and said, "Quiet!
Come out of him!"” (Mark
1:21-28) Baudoin de Ford
(?-about 1190), Cistercian abbot
(Homily on Hebrews
4,12; PL 204, 451-453)
“Indeed, the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any
two-edged sword” (Heb 4,12). With these few words the apostle shows
those who seek Christ – he who is the Word, the strength and the wisdom
of God - all the greatness, the strength and the wisdom of the Word of
God...When one preaches this Word of God, by preaching it, it confers
to words listened to exteriorly the power of his Word, perceived
interiorly. That being the case, the dead can then be raised (Lk 7,22)
and this sign can make other new children too raise up to Abraham (Mt
3,9). Therefore this Word is living. Living in the heart of the Father,
living on the lips of the preacher, and living in the hearts filled
with fire and love. And since it is a living Word, no doubt that it is
also effective.
It is effective as it creates the world, it governs it and it redeems
it. What could be stronger or more effective than this word? “Who can
tell the mighty deeds of the Lord, proclaim in full God's praise?” (Ps
105,2). This Word is effective because of the things it operates; it
reveals itself also through predication. For it never returns to God
void, but it always does his will, achieving the end for which he had
sent it (Is 55,11).
The Word is therefore effective, and sharper than a two-edged sword,
when it is received with faith and love. In fact, is anything
impossible to the one who believes? And is anything rigorous for the
one who loves?
(Selected
by "The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
Invoke the Blessed Virgin. Keep
asking her to show herself a Mother to you — monstra te esse Matrem! As
well as drawing down her Son's grace, may she bring the clarity of
sound doctrine to your mind, and love and purity to your heart, so that
you may know the way to God and take many souls to him.
(The Forge,
no.986)
In what way is the Eucharist a memorial of
the sacrifice of Christ?
The Eucharist is a memorial in the sense that it makes present and
actual the sacrifice which Christ offered to the Father on the cross,
once and for all on behalf of mankind. The sacrificial character of the
Holy Eucharist is manifested in the very words of institution, “This is
my Body which is given for you” and “This cup is the New Covenant in my
Blood that will be shed for you” (Luke 22:19-20). The sacrifice of the
cross and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one and the same
sacrifice. The priest and the victim are the same; only the manner of
offering is different: in a bloody manner on the cross, in an unbloody
manner in the Eucharist. (CCC 1362-1367)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.280)
On leaving the
synagogue Jesus entered the house of Simon and Andrew with James and
John. Simon’s mother-in-law lay sick with a fever. They immediately
told him about her. He approached, grasped her hand, and helped her up.
Then the fever left her and she waited on them. When it was evening,
after sunset, they brought to him all who were ill or possessed by
demons. The whole town was gathered at the door. He cured many who were
sick with various diseases, and he drove out many demons, not
permitting them to speak because they knew him. Rising very early
before dawn, he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed.
Simon and those who were with him pursued him and on finding him said,
“Everyone is looking for you.” He told them, “Let us go on to the
nearby villages that I may preach there also. For this purpose have I
come.” So he went into their synagogues, preaching and driving out
demons throughout the whole of Galilee.(Mark 1:29-39)
Has there ever been
in the history of the world a person who has displayed such power for
good over nature as Jesus of Nazareth showed? Consider our Gospel
passage today in which in a very matter-of-fact way St Mark describes
the early stage of our Lord’s public ministry at Capernaum. His
teaching in the synagogue had been a sensation for the authority it
displayed and for his effortless exorcism of a demon. But now, “on
leaving the synagogue” our Lord went to Simon and Andrew’s house (which
is probably where our Lord stayed) and forthwith cured Simon’s
mother-in-law of her fever. At the end of the day (when the day’s work
was over for all) “the whole town was gathered at the door. He cured
many who were sick with various diseases, and he drove out many demons,
not permitting them to speak because they knew him” (Mark
1:29-39).
The power of God radiated from our Lord, a power that showed itself in
mercy. One of the great themes in the history of man has surely been
the presence and exercise of power. Men have aspired to have power, and
they have gained it by various means and used it in various ways.
Consider a person such as Alexander the Great whose life ambition was
to gain great power, and who wreaked death and pillage everywhere in
his all-conquering progress towards it. He was a person of immense
ability, but also an assassin of sorts, a kind of military terrorist,
and one who these days might have been tried for crimes against
humanity. But he was a child of his age and he had power. But how
little was his power compared with that of Jesus of Nazareth, who
eschewed any thought of worldly power (to which Satan tried to tempt
him) and instead exercised his power for the good of others, as shown
in our passage today.
His power was
divine, and being divine it was rich in mercy. If we read the Gospel
carefully, trying to come to know the person of Jesus, one of the
things that is evident is that Jesus of Nazareth could do anything he
wanted, had he so chosen. There were so very many things he chose not
to do because that was not his mission. He did not impose himself on
others. He could help them, he could answer their needs, he could
anticipate what was best, but in the matter of, say, physical ailments
and allied debilities we notice that he very largely responded to
requests. He did not come to rid the world of physical suffering, but
he readily responded to requests of this order to show his all-merciful
power. It ought to have been evident from what he did for people, as in
our passage today, that he had the power and the goodness to be relied
on completely. He was One in whom anyone could and should trust. How
little that observation could be made of so many of those who have held
and exercised power of various kinds! Not so Jesus. He was powerful,
and his power was all-holy and all-merciful. There was and is no one on
whom men could rely more. The tragedy is that so many who benefitted
from his loving power did not place a firm and enduring faith in him
and go on to trust him in all his teaching. For instance, we learn from
the Gospel of St John (chapter 6) that when our Lord told the people
(again, in the synagogue of Capernaum) that eating his flesh and
drinking his blood would confer eternal life, he lost the masses - as
Fulton Sheen once put it. They did not believe that this was possible.
Despite the evidence of his power that he had shown in, for instance,
today’s Gospel events, the people did not give him the faith that was
his due and which would have saved them.
Whenever we recite
the creed, be it the Nicene or the Apostles’ Creed, we begin by
professing our faith in God the Father almighty. Power is the first
thing man generally thinks of when thinking of God or his gods. The
true God has revealed that, like everything about him, his power is
without limit. Furthermore, our Lord in his public ministry intimated
very clearly that his power too was without limit. But what the
ministry of our Lord also reveals is that the boundless power of God
reveals itself in deeds of mercy. This is what we see in the ministry
of our Lord in today’s Gospel passage. Let us entrust ourselves to the
all-powerful care of Jesus, and ask him to help us to follow him to the
end, no matter what the cost. As St Thomas More once said, though I
lose my head I’ll come to no harm.
(E.J.Tyler) To watch a live
broadcast of this reflection on today's Gospel, click here
«Rising very early before dawn,
he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed»(Mark
1:29-39) St Cyprian (200-258),
bishop of Carthage and martyr (The Lord's Prayer,
29-30)
The Lord did not content himself to teach us to pray only with his
words, but he also gave us his example. We often see him in prayer; he
gives us the example we must follow. It is written: “he went off to a
lonely place, in the desert to pray”. And elsewhere: “he departed to
the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God” (Lk
6,12). If already the one who was without sin prayed in this way, all
the more reason for us sinners to pray like this. If he spent the night
in prayer, all the more reason for us to pray constantly and to be, us
as well, always on watch.
The Lord prayed and interceded not for himself – for which sin would
he, the innocent, need to ask to be forgiven? – but he prayed for our
sins. This is proved to be true when he tells Peter: “Remember that
Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, but I have prayed
that your own faith may not fail” (Lk 22,31-32). Later on he prayed the
Father for all of us, when he says: “I pray not only for them, but also
for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may
all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you” (Jn 17,20-21).
Oh, how great are the mercy and goodness of God, in favor of our
salvation! He did not content himself to redeem us through his blood,
but he also beforehand wished to pray for us. But take notice of the
desire of the one who prays: as the Father and the Son are one, that we
too may live in unity.
(Selected by
"The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
A son of God fears neither life
nor death, because his spiritual life is founded on a sense of divine
filiation. So he says to himself: God is my Father and he is the Author
of all good; he is all Goodness. But, you and I, do we really act as
sons of God?
(The Forge,
no.987)
In what way does the Church
participate in the eucharistic sacrifice?
In the Eucharist the sacrifice of Christ becomes also the sacrifice of
the members of his Body. The lives of the faithful, their praise, their
suffering, their prayers, their work, are united to those of Christ. In
as much as it is a sacrifice, the Eucharist is likewise offered for all
the faithful, living and dead, in reparation for the sins of all and to
obtain spiritual and temporal benefits from God. The Church in heaven
is also united to the offering of Christ. (CCC 1368-1372, 1414)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.281)
(January 11) Today let us think of Saint Benet Biscop(Saints)
Scripture
today: Hebrews
3:7-14; Psalm 95:6-7c, 8-9,
10-11; Mark 1:40-45
A leper came to him
and kneeling down begged him and said, “If you wish, you can make me
clean.” Moved with pity, he
stretched out his hand, touched the leper, and said to him, “I do will
it. Be made clean.” The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made
clean. Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once. Then he
said to him, “See that you tell no one anything, but go, show yourself
to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that
will be proof for them.” The man went away and began to publicize the
whole matter. He spread the report abroad so that it was impossible for
Jesus to enter a town openly. He remained outside in deserted places,
and people kept coming to him from everywhere. (Mark 1:40-45)
Let us place
ourselves in this scene of today’s Gospel, so typical of much of our
Lord’s public ministry. A poor leper, desperate because of his
impossible plight, comes to Jesus and pleads with our Lord, appealing
to his love and mercy: “If you wish, you can make me clean.” (Mark 1:40-45) He is saying to our Lord, you have the power. All
that is needed for my healing is for you to want to do it. It is an
appeal to our Lord’s mercy and compassion. Full of his characteristic
pity, our Lord assures the leper that he did indeed want what the leper
asked for and orders the leprosy to leave him, which it does. But it is
instantly obvious that the ministry of healing is not what our Lord
wishes to engage in primarily for our Lord “sternly” forbad the leper
to talk about it. One suspects that the leper had this impression too,
because he seems to be pleading with our Lord to do what he is a little
reluctant to do: “if you wish...” Our Lord’s primary objective was not
to heal, but rather to preach the Good News of the Kingdom of God, a
kingdom of holiness and the grace of God, and to be one with him in
that Kingdom. It was this which was his mission and he wanted nothing
to distract him nor others from it. His healings and other miracles
were signs of the real thing. On another occasion after our Lord had
fed the crowds they wanted to come and take him by force to make him
king. He fled into the hills. It is obvious from many incidents
recorded in the Gospels that our Lord often (and unsuccessfully)
prohibited people he cured from publicizing it. He could see that there
was a great danger that people could completely mistake his true
mission and be continually seeking from him things which were
ultimately beside the point. Christ came, as St John the Baptist
pointed out before his public ministry actually began, to take away the
sin of the world and to unite men to God.
Whenever we have a
need of any kind we ought take it to the Lord. Jesus is our friend and
our all-powerful helper in all our needs. Whether what we regard as a
true need is what Jesus in his divine wisdom judges to be our true need
is a further question. But it is a very good thing to be coming to our
Lord and appealing, as did the poor leper, to his mercy. Let us tell
him, “if you want to, you can help me.” But even more, let us come to
our Lord to appeal to his mercy for what he knows we need, for what he
came to do for us, and for what we ourselves ought realize is in our
best interests. That petition ought be a petition for forgiveness of
sin and for the grace to give ourselves entirely to his person. The
prayer of the leper in today’s Gospel ought be seen as most appropriate
in this higher sense. We ought approach our Lord with a lively sense of
sin, like the approach to God of the publican in our Lord’s story of
the Pharisee and the Publican praying in the Temple. The Pharisee had
no sense that he needed to be made clean. He was clean already - not
like the publican who was praying at the same time in the Temple. The
Publican knew he needed to be made clean and that he was a sinner. He
stood there with his eyes humbly downcast, repeatedly asking God for
mercy, for he was a sinner. We use his prayer during the penitential
rite of Mass. We need to approach our Lord with a lively sense of the
evil of sin, of how imperative it is that sin be taken away, of the
fact that we ourselves are indeed sinners, and that Jesus has the power
to eliminate sin from our lives. He can make us holy. We ought ask our
Lord to help us in all our needs, knowing that due to his compassion he
does want to help us. But most of all he wants to take away our sins
and bring us to sanctity.
Let us make our own
the petition of the leper, and come to our Lord appealing to his love
and mercy. That appeal to our Lord’s compassion - to his sacred heart -
had an immediate effect as we read in our Gospel passage. But let us
bear in mind what we also notice, that there are petitions of the
greatest importance which we ought never forget to bring constantly
before our Lord. What we need most of all and what we ought pray for
perseveringly and never give up on is the conquest of sin and the
attainment of personal holiness, which consists in a profound union
with our Lord himself.
(E.J.Tyler)
«The man went away and began to
publicize the whole matter» (Mark 1:40-45) Odes of Solomon
(Christian text of the beginning of the 2nd century) (N̊ 21 and 25)
I lifted my arms up to the sky, towards
the grace of the Lord. He took off and threw my chains
far away from me. My protector raised me in
accordance with his grace and salvation. I was stripped off of darkness
and clothed with light; My limbs no longer suffer from
sadness, anguish or pain. The thought of the Lord
assisted me; His light overjoyed me; I walked in His presence; As I praise and glorify Him, I
will approach Him. My heart has over flown; it
reached my mouth, Came out on my lips. The joy of the Lord and his
praise enlighten my face. Alleluia! I escaped my chains and ran to
you, my God! You have been my right hand, my
salvation and help. You kept back those who rose up
against me and they disappeared. Your face was with me and your
grace saved me. I was scorned and condemned in
the eyes of the majority. But you gave me strength and
aid. You placed the light at my
right side and left side. May everything in me be only
light! I put on the clothes of your
Spirit, And you took off from me the
leather garments you had first clothed me with (Gn 3,21). Your right hand raised me and
chased the sickness away from me. Your truth made me strong and
your justice sanctified me. I was justified by your love so
sweet, And your peace is for me now
forever and ever. Alleluia!
(Selected by "The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
I was delighted to see that you
understood what I had said to you: you and I have to work and live and
die like people in love, and we will live in this way for all eternity.
(The Forge,
no.988)
How is Christ present in the
Eucharist?
Jesus Christ is present in the Eucharist in a unique and incomparable
way. He is present in a true, real and substantial way, with his Body
and his Blood, with his Soul and his Divinity. In the Eucharist,
therefore, there is present in a sacramental way, that is, under the
Eucharistic species of bread and wine, Christ whole and entire, God and
Man. (CCC 1373-1375, 1413)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.282)
(January 12) Today let us think of Saint Kentigen (Saints) Saint
Marguerite
Bourgeoys (1620-1700) Foundress of the Sisters of the
Congregation of Notre-Dame (Saints) Marguerite
Bourgeoys was born in Troyes, in the province of Champagne
(France), on Good Friday, April 17, 1620. She was baptized on the same
day in the church of Saint-Jean, a church that was located near her
home. Marguerite
was the sixth child in a family of twelve. Her parents
were Abraham Bourgeoys and Guillemette Gamier, and she was privileged
to grow up in a milieu that was middle class and thoroughly Christian.
Marguerite
was nineteen years of age when she lost her mother. In the
following year, 1640, in the course of a procession held on October 7
in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, she had an unforgettable
experience. Her eyes rested on a statue of the Blessed Virgin, and at
that moment she felt inspired to withdraw from the world and to
consecrate herself to the service of God. With that unchanging fidelity
to what she believed to be God's will for her, a fidelity that
characterized her life thenceforth, she set about to discern her
specific vocation.
She registered, at once, as a member of the extern Congregation of
Troyes, an association of young girls devoted to the charitable work of
teaching children in the poor districts of the town. While engaged in
this apostolate she learned about the foundation of Ville Marie
(Montreal) in Canada. The year was 1642, and at that time she sensed a
first call to missionary life. This call was rendered concrete in 1652
when she met Monsieur de Maisonneuve, founder and governor of the
settlement begun in New France, who was in search of someone who would
volunteer her services for the gratuitous instruction of the French and
Indian children. Our Lady confirmed the call addressed to her: "Go, I
will not forsake you", she said. Thus assured, Marguerite
left Troyes
in February, 1653, in a spirit of complete detachment. She arrived in
Montreal on the following 16th of November, and without delay she set
to work to promote the best interests of the colony. She is rightly
considered co-foundress of Montreal, with the nurse, Jeanne Mance, and
the master designer, Monsieur de Maisonneuve.
In order to encourage the colonists in their faith expression, she
arranged for the restoration of the Cross on Mount Royal after it has
been destroyed by hostile Indians, and she undertook the construction
of a chapel dedicated to Notre-Dame de Bon Secours. Convinced of the
importance of the family in the building of this new country, and
perceiving the significance of the role to be exercised by women, she
devoted herself to the task of preparing those whose vocation it would
be to preside in a home. In 1658, in a stable which had been given to
her by the governor for her use, she opened the first school in
Montreal. She also organized an extern Congregation, patterned after
the one which she had known in Troyes but adapted to the actual needs.
In this way, she could respond to the needs of the women and young
girls on whom much depended as far as the instruction of children was
concerned. In 1659, she began receiving girls who were recommended by
"les cures" in France, or endowed by the King, to come to establish
homes in Montreal, and she became a real mother to them. Thus were
initiated a school system and a network of social services which
gradually extended through the whole country, and which led people to
refer to Marguerite
as "Mother of the Colony".
On three occasions, Marguerite Bourgeoys
made a trip to France to
obtain help. As of 1658, the group of teachers who associated
themselves with her in her life of prayer, of heroic poverty, and of
untiring devotedness to the service of others, presented the image of a
religious institute. The group was inspired by the "vie voyagere" of
Our Lady, and desired to remain uncloistered, the concept of an
uncloistered community being an innovation at that time. Such a
foundation occasioned much suffering and the one who took the
initiative was not spared. But the work progressed. The Congregation de
Notre-Dame received its civil charter from Louis XIV in 1671, and
canonical approbation by decree of the Bishop of Quebec in 1676. The
Constitutions of the Community were approved in 1698.
The foundation having been assured, Sister Bourgeoys
could leave the
work to others. She died in Montreal on January 12, 1700, acknowledged
for her holiness of life. Her last generous act was to offer herself as
a sacrifice of prayer for the return to health of a young Sister. Forty
memberg of the Congregation de Notre-Dame were there to continue her
work.
The educative and apostolic efforts of Marguerite Bourgeoys
continue
through the commitment of the members of the community that she
founded. More than 2,600 Sisters of the Congregation de Notre-Dame work
in fields of action according to the needs of time and place - from
school to college or university, in the promotion of family, parish and
diocesan endeavours. They are on mission in Canada, in the United
States, in Japan, in Latin America, in Cameroon, and most recently they
have established a house in France.
On November 12, 1950 Pope Pius XII beatified Marguerite Bourgeoys.
Canonizing her on October 31, 1982, Pope John Paul II gave the Canadian Church
its first woman saint.
Scripture today:
Hebrews
4:1-5, 11; Psalm 78:3 and 4bc, 6c-7, 8;
Mark 2:1-12
When Jesus returned
to Capernaum after some days, it became known that he was at home. Many
gathered together so that there was no longer room for them,
not even around the door, and he preached the word to them. They came
bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. Unable to get near
Jesus because of the crowd, they opened up the roof above him. After
they had broken through, they let down the mat on which the paralytic
was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to him, “Child, your
sins are forgiven.” Now some of the scribes were sitting there asking
themselves, “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming. Who
but God alone can forgive sins?” Jesus immediately knew in his mind
what they were thinking to themselves, so he said, “Why are you
thinking such things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the
paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, pick up your mat
and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority to
forgive sins on earth” --he said to the paralytic, “I say to you, rise,
pick up your mat, and go home.” He rose, picked up his mat at once, and
went away in the sight of everyone. They were all astounded and
glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this.”(Mark 2:1-12)
Today we are placed
in a Gospel scene that brings us to the heart of our Lord’s mission on
earth. He came among us to bring the forgiveness of sins. The worst
thing that ever happened in the world was not, say, the terrible impact
of interplanetary meteors millennia ago that may have wiped out
prehistoric life, or various natural disasters such as the Black Death
that have eliminated populations, or even world wars. At
root, the worst thing that ever happened in the history of the world
was sin. Sin was the worst thing that ever happened in heaven too, when
certain angels sinned. It was a cataclysmic event in heaven and many
were cast into hell from where they now roam the world looking for
someone to devour, as St Peter puts it. Sin entered the world through
our first parents and with sin death arrived and has spread to the
whole human race. The whole human race was profoundly wounded by this
occurrence, an occurrence that has been replicated to a greater or
lesser extent in the life of every human being, with the exception of
Mary the mother of Jesus, and of course, Jesus himself. Our
contemporary problem is that we tend not to think that sin matters
much. There are much worse evils than sin, we think. Who could possibly
think that to commit a serious sin (just) of thought could be a worse
thing than, say, having one’s son killed in a road accident? But so it
is. It has been revealed to us that sin is the worst element in all
created reality, and it is the root cause of all evil and suffering and
death. It was this evil which Christ came to conquer and to replace
with holiness. He takes away the sin of the world. If we are ever to
appreciate the person of Christ, we must first appreciate the evil and
fact of sin.
That this was the
primary thing in our Lord’s mind during his public ministry of
preaching, teaching, healing, driving our demons and even raising the
dead, we see in his reaction to the paralytic who was suddenly placed
before him. The crowds were thronging in front of our Lord, including
the scribes. Then suddenly from the roof there was lowered in front of
our Lord the paralytic on his mat - an obvious evidence of his friends’
faith. Now, what was the first thing that came to our Lord’s lips
when he saw their faith? He told the paralytic that his sins were
forgiven. Our Lord’s words indicated that the fundamental burden and
the basic evil was sin, and they also made plain that it was our Lord
himself who was doing the forgiving. It stunned the scribes. Our Lord
said this confidently, without any explanatory introduction, and with
an air of total authority. To the scribes he appeared to be taking
God’s place and to be acting as God, because they said to themselves,
“Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming. Who but God alone
can forgive sins?” (Mark 2:1-12) Our Lord calmly
challenged their hostile thoughts and by way of proof of his authority
proceeded to work a spectacular miracle of healing before their eyes.
Now, one thing we ought learn from the reaction of the scribes is the
wonder of the forgiveness of sins. That sins can be forgiven here on
earth by the agency of particular persons is a wonder, and we ought not
take it for granted. If God can come among us as man and forgive sins,
he can just as easily confer this power on certain other persons. When
our Lord rose from the dead the first thing he did that very day was to
entrust this divine power to his Apostles. It is that very power which
is entrusted down through the ages to the ordained Catholic priest.
Let us dwell on the
implications of our Lord’s first words to the paralytic in today’s
Gospel. “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Sin is the first and most
fundamental evil from which we are to be liberated, and it is Christ
who brings this liberation. We ought strive to appreciate this blessing
and bring it regularly into our life. This we do through the ministry
of the ordained priest who brings us the forgiveness of sins in the
Sacrament of Penance. Let us never take it for granted nor neglect it,
but rather let us make it a fundamental feature of our ongoing
Christian life.
(E.J.Tyler).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Who
but God alone can forgive sins?"(Mark 2:1-12) Saint John Chrysostom
(345-407), Bishop and Doctor of the
Church
(Homily 29 on St. Matthew, 29: 1-3)
"They came bringing to him a paralytic."
The evangelists say, that they brought him, but the others that they
also broke up the roof, and let him down. And they put the sick man
before Christ, saying nothing, but committing the whole to him. For
though in the beginning he himself went about, and did not require so
much faith of them that came unto him; yet in this case they both
approached him, and had faith required on their part. For, "Seeing," it
is said, "their faith;" that is, the faith of them that had let the man
down... Or rather, in this case the sick man too had part in the faith;
for he would not have suffered himself to be let down, unless he had
believed.
Forasmuch then as they had evinced so great faith, Jesus also evinces
his own power, with all authority absolving his sins, and signifying in
all ways that he is equal in honor with him that begat him. And mark;
he implied it from the beginning, by his teaching, when he taught them
as one having authority; by the leper, when he said, "I will, be
clean"; by the sea, when he curbed it with a mere word; by the devils,
when they acknowledged him as their judge… For he, to signify his
indifference to honor did not straightway hasten to heal the visible
body, but he takes his occasion from them; and he healed first that
which is invisible, the soul, by forgiving his sins; which indeed saved
the other, but brought no great glory to himself. They themselves
rather, troubled by their malice, and wishing to assail him, caused
even against their will what was done to be conspicuous. He, in fact,
in his abundance of counsel, made use of their envy for the
manifestation of the miracle.
(Selected by "The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
What is the meaning of
transubstantiation?
Transubstantiation means the change of the whole substance of bread
into the substance of the Body of Christ and of the whole substance of
wine into the substance of his Blood. This change is brought about in
the eucharistic prayer through the efficacy of the word of Christ and
by the action of the Holy Spirit. However, the outward characteristics
of bread and wine, that is the “eucharistic species”, remain unaltered.
(CCC 1376-1377, 1413)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.283)
(January
13) Saint
Hilary of Poitiers, Bishop and Doctor of the Church. Born in
Poitiers at the beginning of the fourth century, Hilary was consecrated
bishop of that city in the year 350. He combatted the Arians
relentlessly for which reason he was exiled by the Emperor Constantine.
For the purpose of strengthening the Catholic Faith and interpreting
sacred Scripture he published works which are outstanding in their
wisdom and learning. He died in the year 367. (Saints)
Jesus went out along the sea. All the
crowd came to him and he taught them. As he passed by, he saw Levi, son
of Alphaeus, sitting at the customs post. Jesus
said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed Jesus. While he
was at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners sat with
Jesus and his disciples; for there were many who followed him. Some
scribes who were Pharisees saw that Jesus was eating with sinners and
tax collectors and said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax
collectors and sinners?” Jesus heard this and said to them, “Those who
are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. I did not come to
call the righteous but sinners.”(Mark 2:13-17)
Of all the persons
who ever graced this earth, none have equaled the moral and inner
beauty of Jesus. Such is the conviction of the Christian who has come
to know Jesus personally. What are the sources of this conviction? The
most powerful is the great Tradition of the Church that bears
witness to the person of Jesus. It is a Tradition that involves the
Church’s entire life, her liturgy, her official teaching, the testimony
of her pastors and saints, and indeed the testimony of the entire
people of God which makes up her membership. It is the sense of the
entire body of Christ’s faithful that he, the Lord Jesus, is beyond
compare. Now, a priceless component of the Church’s life and Tradition
is her sacred and inspired writings, the Holy Scriptures and especially
the New Testament - and most of all the Gospels. They, especially the
Gospels, bear witness to Jesus. In the celebration of the Eucharist
which is the summit and source of the Church’s life, the book of the
Gospels is held aloft and brought in as part of the entrance
procession. The book of the Gospels is the highest and most sacred
testimony to Jesus which the Church possesses. Indeed, the Gospels - as
did the rest of the New Testament - came forth from the Church in the
persons of certain of her writers inspired by the Holy Spirit. The
important thing to bear in mind, though, is that the Church and the
Church’s Tradition and inspired Writings bear witness to Jesus. Indeed,
the Church not only bears witness to Jesus, but brings with her
testimony the living and beautiful person of Jesus himself.
It is this
living, all-beautiful and all-holy Jesus whom we encounter when we
place ourselves in a Gospel scene such as the one for today (Mark
2:13-17).
What is especially consoling is that we see how Jesus loves to be with
the lowly and the sinners - that is to say, with those who know they
are poor and sinful, and who want to be with him who is all-holy. In
1917 the German scholar, Rudolf Otto, published his book (Das
Heilige) on
the idea of the holy. For him, the numinous was something awe-inspiring
and profoundly fascinating. As a description of the sense of the holy
in the religions of man this is true enough, but what has been revealed
from on high and in the person of the Son of God made man is that the
Holy One is loving. He is holy and loving too. His holiness is love. In
the Gospels we see that the sinners sought to be with our Lord. He was
“fascinans”, to use Otto’s term, immensely attractive, but especially
to those who knew they were sinners. Christ loved sinners and they
sensed it. They loved to be with him, and he readily entered into their
company with a view to leading them out of sin into the life of God.
And so it is in today’s Gospel scene. “While he was at table in his
house (i.e. the house of Levi), many tax collectors and sinners sat
with Jesus and his disciples; for there were many who followed him. “
This was a source of incomprehension among some Pharisees whose image
of God did not allow of this familiarity with sinners. It has been
pointed out that one of the fundamental differences between
Christianity and Islam lies in their images of God: in Islam God is the
Master. In Christianity God is the Father.
Let us place
ourselves every day in the presence of Jesus, knowing that he is the
image of the unseen God, the only-begotten Son of the Father, the only
true way to God. He who sees me, sees the Father, he said. Our Lord in
today’s Gospel passage invites all who understand that they are sinners
to come to him and learn from him, for he is meek and humble of heart.
His yoke is easy and his burden light.
(E.J.Tyler)
“People
who are healthy do not need a doctor; sick people do.”(Mark 2:17) St Augustine
(354-430), bishop of Hippo (North Africa) and doctor of the Church
(Discourse on the
Psalms, Ps. 58: 1, 7)
There are some strong men...who place their confidence in their own
justice. They claim to be just by their own means, and since they
considered themselves healthy people, they refused the remedy and
killed the doctor himself. This is why, in fact, the Lord came to call
not these strong men, but the weak...
Oh! You the strong, who do not need the doctor! Your strength does not
come from health but from insanity...The Master of humility, who shared
our weakness and who made us take part in his divinity, came down from
heaven to show us the way and to be himself our way. Most of all, he
wanted to leave us the example of his humility...to teach us to confess
our sins, to humble ourselves and become strong, and to make ours the
words of the apostle: “Therefore I am content with weakness...for when
I am powerless, it is then that I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10)...
As for those who pride themselves on being strong, who, in other words,
claim being just by their own virtue, “stumbled over the stumbling
stone” (Romans 9:32)...It is these strong men who attacked Christ, as
they boasted themselves on their justice...They had placed themselves
above the crowd of weak people who hurried to the doctor. Why? Simply
because they thought they were strong...They killed the doctor of all
men. But he, by dying, prepared through his blood a remedy for all the
sick.
(Selected
by "The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
Sanctity consists precisely in
this: in struggling to be faithful throughout your life and in
accepting joyfully the Will of God at the hour of death.
(The Forge,
no.990)
Does the breaking of the bread divide
Christ?
The breaking of the bread does not divide Christ. He is present whole
and entire in each of the eucharistic species and in each of their
parts. (CCC 1377)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.284)
There was a wedding
at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his
disciples were also invited to the wedding. When the wine ran short,
the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to
her, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet
come.” His mother said to the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now
there were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washings,
each holding twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus told them, “Fill the jars
with water.” So they filled them to the brim. Then he told them,
“Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter.” So they took it. And
when the headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine, without
knowing where it came from - although the servers who had drawn
the water knew -, the headwaiter called the bridegroom and said to him,
“Everyone serves good wine first, and then when people have drunk
freely, an inferior one; but you have kept the good wine until now.”
Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs at Cana in Galilee and so
revealed his glory, and his disciples began to believe in him. (John 2:1-11)
Our Gospel
today tells us that in changing the water into wine at Cana in Galilee,
Christ let his glory be seen and his disciples believed in him. They
began to see the glory of who he was. There are and always have been
all sorts of impressions of Jesus of Nazareth. The Gospels tell us that
because of his miracles and preaching the fame of Jesus began to spread
across the country. We read that Herod wanted to see Jesus. One
presumes that as time went on Pontius Pilate heard things about him. At
Jesus’ last feast in Jerusalem John tells us that some Greeks
approached Philip and said they wanted to see Jesus. At one point in
his public ministry our
Lord asked his apostles who people were saying the Son of Man is, and
they gave him various answers - that he was a prophet, indeed a great
prophet and even one of the old prophets come back again. The issue for
our Lord, though, was whether people were surmising his true glory and
who he really was, and whether they were coming to believe in him. All
this was
represented in the answer Simon Peter gave to Christ’s question: You
are the Christ, the Son of the living God. It was an answer that evoked
from our Lord words of high commendation: Blessed are you Simon son of
John, for flesh and blood have not revealed this to you but my Father
in heaven. Simon was able to say from the heart, I believe in Jesus
Christ the only Son of God. He knew the glory of Jesus’ person. He
still had a long way to go in terms of perseverance in the midst of
difficulty, but he had true faith in our Lord’s person. It is this
which makes a person a Christian.
Our
Lord’s parting words to his apostles just before he ascended into
heaven were not that they were to simply make him known all over the
world. No, they were to go out and make disciples, disciples of all the
nations. This means accepting the whole revealed reality of Christ.
Immediately after receiving his answer from Simon as to who he really
was, our Lord went on to refer to his Church. He told Simon that he was
now Peter, the rock of his Church, and that he was giving to him the
keys of the Kingdom of heaven. That is to say, it is with Peter the
rock of the Church that the keys to Christ’s kingdom are to be found.
In essence that kingdom consists in union with Christ, for in him are
all heavenly blessings. Therefore, the keys to this kingdom of life in
Christ are available in the Church which Christ founded on Peter and
his successors. If we are to be Christ’s disciples in the sense
intended by God, it is important that we understand what discovering
the glory of Jesus and what placing his person and teaching at the
centre of our life really means.
In our
Gospel today our Lord changes the water into wine at the wedding feast
of Cana in Galilee (John 2:1-11). It must have been a
sensation to his disciples and to any others who learnt what was really
going on. His disciples had come to faith in him from the testimony of
John the Baptist and from their own personal knowledge of him. But they
had not yet seen any miracle. It was the first of the signs Christ
would give of his true glory. They saw his glory, and they believed.
They were coming to see in the person of Jesus the object of their
life. God has revealed that man’s fundamental calling is to know the
person and the glory of Jesus, and that our whole life is to find its
object and meaning in him. That is a responsibility we have to our own
selves, and it is a responsibility we have to others. It is also
something we cannot just take for granted. The person of Jesus will not
occupy the centre of our lives automatically. In fact, because we
cannot actually see our Lord, we will tend to fail to appreciate that
he is a living person, the person who is at the centre of all reality
be it seen or unseen. We have to work at realizing in faith that Jesus
lives, that he is a living man and that he is the living God. We have
to work at full assent to his teaching. We have to set in place a plan
of life which is geared to helping us grow in a strong faith in the
person of Jesus as the centre of our religion and indeed the centre of
all reality. Moreover, every parent must strive to make the person of
Jesus the living heart of the home and the object of their children’s
love and life. It can’t be taken for granted.
In
the sign given at the wedding feast of Cana the
disciples came to see the glory of Jesus. All our lives we ought be
growing in a sense of the glory of this same Jesus who is the living
centre of the religion revealed by God and of all reality.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further reading: The Catechism of the
Catholic Church, No. 422-429
“What
you have done is keep the choice wine until now.”(John 2:1-11) St Ephrem
(306 – 373), Deacon in Syria, Doctor of the Church (Diatessaron XII,
§ 1-2)
In the desert, our Lord multiplied the loaves of bread, and in Cana, he
changed the water into wine. Thus, he got people used to his bread and
to his wine until the time when he gave them his body and his blood. He
let them taste a transitory bread and wine, so that the desire for his
life-giving body and blood might grow in them… He attracted us by means
of these things that are pleasant to the palate, in order to lead us
even more to that which gives life in full to our souls. He hid
sweetness in the wine he made, so as to show his guests what
incomparable treasure is hidden in his life-giving blood.
As his first sign, he gave a wine that gave joy to the guests, so as to
show that his blood would give joy to all nations. For if wine plays a
part in all of earth’s joys, in the same way, every true deliverance is
linked to the mystery of his blood. He gave the guests at Cana
excellent wine, which transformed their mind, so as to let them know
that the teaching with which he would quench their thirst would
transform their heart.
This wine, which first of all was only water, was changed in jars, a
symbol of the first commandments, which he brought to perfection. The
transformed water is the Law brought to its fulfillment. The people who
were invited to the wedding drank what had been water, but without
tasting that water. In the same way, when we hear the former
commandments, we taste them not with their former savor, but with their
new one.
(Selected by "The Daily
Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
When you receive Our Lord in the Holy
Eucharist, thank him from the bottom of your heart for being so good as
to be with you. Have you ever stopped to consider that it took
centuries and centuries before the Messiah came? All those patriarchs
and prophets praying together with the whole people of Israel: Come,
Lord, the land is parched! If only your loving expectation were like
this.
(The Forge,
no.991)
How long does the presence of Christ last
in the Eucharist?
The presence of Christ continues in the Eucharist as long as the
eucharistic species subsist. (CCC 1377)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.285)
The disciples of John
and of the Pharisees were accustomed to fast.
People came to Jesus and objected, “Why do the disciples of John and
the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?”
Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom
is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot
fast. But the
days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then
they will fast on that day. No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on
an old cloak. If he does, its fullness pulls away, the new from the
old, and the tear gets worse. Likewise, no one pours new wine into old
wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine
and the skins are ruined.(Mark 2:18-22)
In our Gospel scene
today we are presented with an objection brought to
our Lord by people who could not understand the discrepancy they saw
between what our Lord required of his disciples, and what John and the
Pharisees required of theirs. We must presume that the disciples of
John and the Pharisees consisted of people who sincerely wanted to
serve God better. For that reason they had attached themselves to
masters whom they regarded as serving God with knowledge and
distinction. Now, some were perplexed. Jesus was a master in religion
but he did not seem to demand of his disciples the obvious self-denial
of fasting. What was Christ’s response to this? He certainly did not in
any way denigrate the importance of fasting. He said, rather, that it
will come later at a more appropriate time, “and then they will fast on
that day.” Our Lord goes on to intimate that the religious practice of
his disciples in the future will involve something very new, a new
content and a new spirit. “No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on
an old cloak. If he does, its fullness pulls away, the new from the
old, and the tear gets worse. Likewise, no one pours new wine into old
wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine
and the skins are ruined” (Mark
2:18-22).
Our Lord is preparing
his disciples for a new and renewed religion, one that would in no way
abrogate the old with at least its important practices (such as
fasting, prayer and almsgiving) but would entirely fulfill it. That
religion in which the Father would be worshiped “in spirit and truth”
(John 4:24) would come “when the bridegroom is taken away from them.”
Indeed, it would be due to this taking away of the bridegroom through
his death and resurrection that the new would come.
Our Lord, then, is
signaling the coming of the new covenant in which
God will plant deep within them his Law, writing it on their hearts
(Jeremiah 31:33). Christ is pointing to his death and
resurrection and to the kingdom of God which he would establish
in and through his Church. The religion thus inaugurated will be a new
garment, or to use our Lord’s second image, new wine in new wineskins.
It is this which by our membership in the Church through baptism we
have the privilege to be part of. It is a great privilege and it is a
grave responsibility. But there is more to what our Lord reveals to his
puzzled inquirers. They look to John and the Pharisees, but his own
disciples have in their midst the very bridegroom. In using this term
of himself our Lord raises himself beyond any other figure in revealed
religion. In the Old Testament the prophets speaking on behalf of God
referred to Yahweh as the bridegroom and husband of his people. Yahweh
longs to be with his spouse and is in anguish at his people’s
infidelity. He is their faithful husband. Indeed, when one carefully
considers the meaning of the word “Yahweh”, the name God gave to Moses
to denote himself, one discerns something of the Bridegroom and Husband
there in that name too. Yahweh is “I am who am”, but precisely as the
One who is with his people. I shall be there (with my people) as who I
am. As I am, so I shall be there. He is binding himself in love and
fidelity to his people. He will be their God and they his people. Now,
Jesus appropriates to himself the title of bridegroom, and the
bridegroom has now come and is with his own. Our Lord is intimating to
his questioners that they have before them one who is uniquely in union
with God, is representing him, is making him present, and is acting as
God with respect to his people.
Jesus Christ is man
and he is the Son of God. He is human and he is
divine. He has revealed and established on earth a divine religion, the
fulfilment of the old. It is new wine in new wineskins. In our living
of the religion revealed by Christ we are called to fast, yes, but much
more. Let us pray for the grace to live with the utmost generosity in
union with the bridegroom who lives now in our midst calling us to
daily holiness of life.
(E.J.Tyler)
“Behold,
the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!” (Matthew 25: 6) Blessed
Jan van Ruusbroec
(1293-1381), regular canon (The Spiritual Nuptials,
prologue)
When it seemed to God that the right time had come and he took pity on
his beloved in her suffering, he sent his only-begotten son to earth
into a magnificent palace and a glorious temple, that is, into the body
of the glorious Virgin Mary. There the Son wedded this bride, our
nature, and united her with his own person through the purest blood of
the noble Virgin. The priest who witnessed the bride's marriage was the
Holy Spirit. The angel Gabriel brought the message. The glorious Virgin
gave her consent. Thus did Christ, our faithful Bridegroom, unite our
nature with himself. He came to us in a strange land and taught us
through a heavenly way of life and with perfect fidelity.
He worked and struggled as our champion against our enemies, broke open
the bars of our prison, won the struggle, vanquished our death through
his own, redeemed us through his blood, freed us through his water in
baptism, and made us rich through his sacraments and his gifts, so
that, as he says, we might “go out” with all virtues, “meet him” in the
place of glory, and enjoy him forever in eternity”.
(Selected by "The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
"The bridegroom is with them"(Mark 2:18-22) Saint John of the Cross
(1542-1591), Carmelite, Doctor of the Church (The Spiritual Canticle
B, Stanza 23, 1-3)
"The bridegroom is with them"
Beneath the apple tree: (cf Ct 8:5)
there I took you for my own,
there I offered you my hand,
and restored you,
where your mother was corrupted
In this high state of spiritual marriage the Bridegroom reveals his
wonderful secrets to the soul as to his faithful consort, with
remarkable ease and frequency, for true and perfect love knows not how
to keep anything hidden from the beloved. He mainly communicates to her
sweet mysteries of his Incarnation and the ways of the redemption of
humankind, one of the loftiest of his works and thus more delightful to
the soul. Even though he communicates many other mysteries to her, the
Bridegroom in the following stanza mentions only the Incarnation as the
most important…
The Bridegroom explains to the soul in this stanza his admirable plan
in redeeming and espousing her to himself through the very means by
which human nature was corrupted and ruined, telling her that as human
nature was ruined through Adam and corrupted by means of the forbidden
tree in the Garden of Paradise, so on the tree of the cross it was
redeemed and restored when he gave it there, through his passion and
death, the hand of his favour and mercy, and broke down the barriers
between God and humans that were built up through original sin. Thus he
says: "Beneath the apple tree": that is: beneath the favor of the tree
of the cross where the Son of God redeemed human nature and
consequently espoused it to himself, and then espoused each soul by
giving it through the cross grace and pledges for this espousal.
(Selected by "The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
Even in our times, despite
those who deny God, earth is very close to
Heaven.
(The Forge,
no.992)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What
kind of worship is due to the sacrament of the Eucharist? The worship due to the sacrament of the
Eucharist, whether during the
celebration of the Mass or outside it, is the worship of latria, that
is, the adoration given to God alone. The Church guards with the
greatest care Hosts that have been consecrated. She brings them to the
sick and to other persons who find it impossible to participate at
Mass. She also presents them for the solemn adoration of the faithful
and she bears them in processions. The Church encourages the faithful
to make frequent visits to adore the Blessed Sacrament reserved in the
tabernacle. (CCC 1378-1381, 1418)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.286)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday
of the Second Week in Ordinary Time II
(January 16) Today let us think of Saint Fursey(Saints)
Scripture today:
Hebrews
6:10-20; Psalm 111:1-2, 4-5, 9 and 10c;
Mark 2:23-28
As Jesus was passing
through a field of grain on the sabbath, his disciples began to make a
path while picking the heads of grain. At this the Pharisees said to
him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?” He
said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need
and he and his companions were hungry? How he went into the house of
God when Abiathar was high priest and ate the bread of offering that
only the priests could lawfully eat, and shared it with his
companions?” Then he said to them, “The sabbath was made for man, not
man for the sabbath. That is why the Son of Man is lord even of the
sabbath.”(Mark 2:23-28)
Today our Gospel
scene places us with Jesus and his disciples as they pass through a
field of grain on the Sabbath. Perhaps this was after they had been to
the synagogue on this Sabbath day, and they were out walking together
somewhere as a form of rest and recreation. At various times the
Gospels speak of our Lord taking his
disciples with him away to rest for awhile. Imagine being in our Lord’s
company as they walk along and recreate with him! Imagine his gentle
company, his smiling manner, his divine sense of fun. I like to
imagine them very much at their ease with him. It is obvious from
various incidents that our Lord allowed them to develop at their own
pace which meant that in many respects they developed slowly. Indeed,
even though our Lord could see that Judas was turning out badly
and at one point referred to him in veiled fashion as “a devil” (John
6: 70), he still accepted him in this privileged band. Well then, here
we are and the disciples are proceeding through the cornfield with our
Lord and they pick ears of corn to eat - perhaps it is late in the
morning and they have not yet eaten. There must have been others not of
their company nearby because some Pharisees spot what they regard and
teach to be an infringement of the Sabbath rest: Jesus’ disciples are
harvesting ears of corn. This, they insisted, must be left to the
working day. Now, let us in passing observe that the disciples have
already learnt to look to our Lord for all their guidance on religious
matters such as the Sabbath observance. Jesus has in turn made it very
clear that he is indeed their Teacher in this, as in everything. The
disciples have seen that Jesus does not defer to other authorities in
interpreting the Law, but speaks, teaches, allows, and prohibits on his
own authority. Probably the objecting Pharisees sense that this is
behind the disciples’ free behaviour.
So then the
Pharisees come straight over to our Lord and challenge him on his
disciples’ violation of the Sabbath rest and on his own laxity in
allowing it. To begin with, let us notice the tone of our Lord’s reply.
It is, with full and calm strength, gentle in tone. He does not harshly
contradict them, but replies - perhaps smilingly and without raising
his voice - with a question. He invites them to consider a text in the
Old Testament that refers to the action of King David. He is saying
that the Pharisees are giving voice to and insisting on an
interpretation which is nothing more than an interpretation, and one
with which great saints of the Sacred Scriptures were not in
accord. What he, Jesus, allows is fully in accord with the true
meaning of the Scriptures and which he, furthermore, has the full
authority to determine. Then Christ pronounces on the true meaning of
the Sabbath: it is that the Sabbath is made by God for man, which is to
say to help man live for God, and not man for the Sabbath. He who is in
their midst and who will be in the midst of his Church in the time to
come, determines how the Sabbath is to be observed. Let us ask
ourselves in passing, as we think of this teaching of Christ, if we are
making of the Sunday the Lord’s day or if we are neglecting it. But
there is more. In our passage Christ not only pronounces on the meaning
of the Sabbath, he also takes the occasion to pronounce very clearly on
his own authority. While God has authority over the Sabbath since the
command to observe it came from him, Our Lord tells the Pharisees that
he, the Son of Man, has authority even over the Sabbath. It is one of
many replies that amounted to a claim to divine authority. He had the
authority to determine as God determines. No other prophet had said
that he was lord of the Sabbath, but Jesus calmly, clearly and before
hostile critics, teaches it (Mark 2:23-28).
Let us place
ourselves in the company of Jesus as he speaks these words and allow
our minds and hearts to be imbued with the grandeur of his person. As
the people said on other occasions, no one speaks with his authority.
He is the Lord, and Lord also of what Judaic religion regarded as a
linchpin of the practice of revealed religion. It was a linchpin
indeed, and was one of the ten commandments of God. But Christ is the
Lord of it, as of everything. Jesus Christ is Lord.
(E.J.Tyler)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Leo XIII "Remember
to keep holy the sabbath day" (Exodus 20,8) Pope Leo XIII, pope
from 1878 to 1903 (Rerum Novarum,
40-41)
Life on earth, however good and desirable in itself, is not the final
purpose for which man is created; it is only the way and the means to
that attainment of truth and that love of goodness in which the full
life of the soul consists. It is the soul, which is made after the
image and likeness of God; it is in the soul that the sovereignty
resides in virtue whereof man is commanded to rule the creatures below
him and to use all the earth and the ocean for his profit and
advantage. "Fill the earth and subdue it; and rule over the fishes of
the sea, and the fowls of the air, and all living creatures that move
upon the earth"(Gn 1,28)...In this respect all men are equal; there is
here no difference between rich and poor, master and servant, ruler and
ruled, "for the same is Lord over all"(Romans 10,12).
No man may with impunity outrage that human dignity which God Himself
treats with great reverence, nor stand in the way of that higher life
which is the preparation of the eternal life of heaven...From this
follows the obligation of the cessation from work and labor on Sundays
and certain holy days. The rest from labor is not to be understood as
mere giving way to idleness; much less must it be an occasion for
spending money and for vicious indulgence, as many would have it to be;
but it should be rest from labor, hallowed by religion...It is this,
above all, which is the reason arid motive of Sunday rest; a rest
sanctioned by God's great law of the Ancient Covenant-"Remember thou
keep holy the Sabbath day,"(Ex 20,8) and taught to the world by His own
mysterious "rest" after the creation of man: "He rested on the seventh
day from all His work which He had done"(Genesis 2,2).
(Selected by "The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
You wrote: ``Simile est regnum caelorum —
the Kingdom of God is like a treasure|... This passage from the Gospel
has taken root in my soul. I had read it so many times before, without
grasping its meaning, its divine flavour.'' Yes, everything. The
prudent man has to sell everything to obtain the treasure — the
precious pearl of Glory.
(The Forge,
no.993)
Why is the Holy Eucharist the paschal
banquet?
The Holy Eucharist is the paschal banquet in as much as Christ
sacramentally makes present his Passover and gives us his Body and
Blood, offered as food and drink, uniting us to himself and to one
another in his sacrifice. (CCC 1382-1384, 1391-1396)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.287)
(January 17) Saint Anthony,
abbot (251-356).
Called the Patriarch of Monks, St
Anthony retired to the desert when he was eighteen years of age. He was
the first abbot to form a stable rule for his family of monks dedicated
to the Divine Service. He led an austere life which was always
consciously directed to the better service of God. (Saints)
Jesus entered the
synagogue. There was a man there who had a withered
hand. They watched Jesus closely to see if he would cure him on the
sabbath so that they might accuse him. He said to the man with the
withered hand, “Come up here before us.” Then he said to the Pharisees,
“Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save
life rather than to destroy it?” But they remained silent. Looking
around at them with anger and grieved at their hardness of heart, Jesus
said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out and his
hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel
with the Herodians against him to put him to death. (Mark 3:1-6)
Our Gospel passage
today places us in the midst of a perennial human
mystery. That mystery is the power of sin in the face of the Creator
God. Our Lord enters the synagogue and there in the synagogue was a man
with a ruined, withered hand. That hand was in a helpless condition and
beyond curing. In the face of this need
there was little doubt as to
what the holy and compassionate Jesus would do. But there in the
synagogue also were his silent, inexorable enemies the Pharisees who
were determined to seize on something of substance to accuse him. That
issue was his violation of the observance of the sabbath as they had
interpreted and taught it. In view of their passionate hostility we
must presume that they saw in our Lord one who flouted their privileged
position in the religious state and who was, in the process of his
ministry and teaching, undermining their self-appointed authority and
general ascendancy. Their religious authority was maintained by, among
other things, their sway in determining the religious behaviour of the
nation even to the point of absurdities. In all he did and said, Jesus
showed himself to be his own supreme authority in interpreting God’s
Law, and of this they were profoundly jealous. This produced hatred,
and at our Lord’s Passion Pilate himself could see this. Our Lord
always knew what was in the hearts of men, and having entered the
synagogue he called the crippled man to come forward in front of
everyone. Then he issued his challenge to the Pharisees. They did not
dare to enter into debate with Christ, but remained ruthlessly and
stubbornly silent, refusing to allow themselves to be shown up as
false. Christ’s spectacular and effortless miracle changed nothing.
Their hatred became murderous.(Mark 3:1-6)
The terrible wonder
here is how profoundly the freedom that comes forth
from the hand of God and implanted in the heart of man can turn
absolutely against him. The freedom which God gives to man and which
involves his intelligence and his conscience, makes man like unto God.
As the first chapter of the book of Genesis makes clear, man is more
like God than, say, the animals. God made him in his own image. He is
free. He can choose to be like God, or he can choose to be his own
independent god. Furthermore, man can deceive himself in this very
process, and embrace a blindness that thinks he is good in doing evil.
The Pharisees opposed Christ despite the plainest evidence of his
holiness and authority before God, and they hated him implacably. This
was the pass to which they had come so quickly. It is a great lesson to
each of us because we too have been given the same precious freedom,
and we too suffer from the same original sin. Just as they did, so too
do we stand before Christ with the choice before us of accepting him or
not. St Ignatius of Loyola in his Spiritual Exercises has a famous
Meditation called the Two Standards. Christ is pictured with his
Standard, and Satan is pictured with his. The way of Christ, which is
that of the Cross, is diametrically opposed to the way of Satan, which
is that of his own wiles, in tandem with the Flesh and the World. Let
us imagine ourselves in the synagogue of our Gospel scene today and the
two camps facing each other. There is on the one hand the all-holy,
all-powerful and humble Christ, and on the other hand there is the
sullen group of the Pharisees blindly doing the work of Satan. Let us
choose Christ and remain with him as he follows the path of obedient
suffering that leads to Calvary.
Jesus Christ is the
Person of the ages. He is beyond compare. He is the
perfect man and he is God. He did the world’s greatest work which was
to break the power of sin and implant in the world the kingdom of
grace. We are members of that kingdom by baptism, and so he lives in us
and we in him. Let us renounce anything in us that links us to the
pharisees of our scene today, and place ourselves close to Jesus and
live in truth as his disciples.
(E.J.Tyler)
“Grieved
at their hardness of heart”(Mark 3:1-6) Melito (?-about 195),
bishop of Sardis (Easter
Homily,
§ 71-73)
It is he, the slaughtered lamb; he, the lamb who does not open his
mouth; he, who was born of Mary, the graceful lamb. He is the one who
was taken from the flock and lead to death...
He was put to death. And where was he put to death? In the heart of
Jerusalem. Why? Because he cured its lame, cleansed its lepers, brought
its blind back to light, and risen its dead (Luke 7,22). This is why he
suffered. It is written in the Law and the Prophets: “They repaid me
evil for good. I am abandoned. They meditated evil against me. Let us
tie the just, they would say, for he is unbearable to us” (Psalm 37,21;
Jeremiah 11,19).
Why have you committed this nameless crime? You dishonored the one who
had honored you, you humiliated the one who had exalted you, you denied
the one who had recognized you, you rejected the one who had called
you, you killed the one who gave you life...He had to suffer, but not
because of you. He had to be humiliated, but not by you. He had to be
judged, but not by you. He had to be crucified, but not by your hand.
Why did you not beg God with this prayer: “O Master, if your son has to
suffer, if this is your will, may he suffer, but not because of me”.
(Selected by "The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
Talk
with Our Lady and tell her trustingly, O Mary, in order to live
the ideal which God has set in my heart I need to fly very high — ever
so high!
It is not sufficient to detach
yourself, with God's help, from the
things of this world, recognising them as the merest clay. More is
needed: even if you were to put the whole universe in a pile under your
feet to get closer to Heaven|... it wouldn't suffice!
You have to fly, without the support of anything here on earth, relying
on the voice and the inspiration of the Spirit. And you will tell me:
But my wings are stained and smeared with the clinging mud of many
years.
And I repeat: Turn to Our Lady. Mary, you should say to her again, I
can hardly get off the ground. The earth draws me like an accursed
magnet. Mary, you can make my soul take off on that glorious and
definitive flight which has as its destination the very Heart of God.
Trust in her, for she is listening to you.
(The Forge,
no.994)
What is the meaning of the altar?
The altar is the symbol of Christ himself who is present both as
sacrificial victim (the altar of the sacrifice) and as food from heaven
which is given to us (the table of the Lord).
(CCC 1383, 1410)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.288)
Jesus withdrew toward
the sea with his disciples. A large number of people followed from
Galilee and from Judea. Hearing what he was doing, a large number of
people came to him also from Jerusalem, from Idumea, from beyond the
Jordan, and from the neighbourhood of Tyre and Sidon. He told his
disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that
they would not crush him. He had cured many and, as a result, those who
had diseases were pressing upon him to touch him. And whenever unclean
spirits saw him they would fall down before him and shout, “You are the
Son of God.” He warned them sternly not to make him known. (Mark
3:7-12)
In our Gospel
passage today our Lord is drawing large crowds of people from all over
the country and beyond. They come from Galilee and Judea including
Jerusalem, but also from Idumea, from beyond the Jordan and from the
area of Tyre and Sidon. His holiness and his spiritual power were an
immense magnet to
the poor, the afflicted, and to those who yearned for God. The press
of the crowds was considerable and so our Lord arranged to speak to the
crowds from a boat. There is a detail at the end of our Gospel passage
which we ought note, for it could be regarded as the punchline of the
passage. It is the utterance of the demons. The devils in their
helplessness “would fall down before him and shout, ‘You are the Son of
God.’ He warned them sternly not to make him known”
(Mark 3:7-12).
In contemplating this scene we cannot but think of the authority and
power of Christ. He towers above the demonic world as one who is
unassailable. The demons are helpless before him, and without having
been told, they divine that he is the Son of God. We do not know just
what the devils knew of the mystery of the Blessed Trinity, nor do we
know if they knew of the Incarnation. During his retreat in the desert
before his public ministry began Satan tempted him by saying, “if you
are the Son of God....”. Satan may not have been at all certain that
this man before him was actually the Son of God - he may have surmised
it and could have been testing his own guess. Who knows! But the devils
in our scene today were also at least surmising the truth about our
Lord and were openly “letting the cat out of the bag”, as we might say.
What do the words of the devils show us? They point to the awful
spiritual power Christ radiated especially to the underworld. There was
and had been no one like him.
The second detail
to be reflected on is Christ’s response. The devils helplessly taunt
our Lord with their shouts about his true identity - perhaps childishly
accusing our Lord of having an unfair advantage! Consider our Lord’s
response. “He warned them sternly not to make him known.” We may
presume that the demons in question here observed the warning for fear
of the consequences. Again, we think of our Lord’s authority and power.
We remember how on another occasion in the Decapolis region our Lord
cast out many demons from one unfortunate person (“our name is Legion,
for there are many of us”), and the demons who were cast out pleaded
with our Lord that he permit them to go into the herd of pigs and not
be dismissed from the region (and perhaps back into hell). Exercising a
certain kindness to them, our Lord gave them leave. The point I would
make, though, is that the devils feared what our Lord might command
them to do. On this occasion of our Gospel scene today he warned them
not to make him known. They would have known that a warning from
Christ was to be respected. Consider too the fact that our Lord did not
want to be known for who he really was. No one beyond the Holy Family
at Nazareth knew who he really was during those thirty years of his
presence
there - that he was the Son of God. During his public ministry it was
something he was only
gradually revealing, and in large measure he was leaving the revelation
of it to his heavenly Father. We remember how when Simon told our Lord
that he was the Christ the Son of the living God, our Lord pointed out
that this insight had been given to him by his heavenly Father. So
then, Christ did not want it known as yet. Why? We are not told. The
important thing to take note of in Christ’s words is that God’s will is
to be our guide, and not our own notions as to what is and will be
best.
Let us contemplate
the holiness and authority of Christ, who teaches the truth to the
crowds, who is acknowledged by the demons, and who is the centre of the
world and of all human history. Let us choose for him, giving our
hearts and minds to him. The question of our secular age is, Where is
God? We can point to the man Jesus. There he is. Let us take our part
with him.
(E.J.Tyler)
“A large
number of people followed him from Galilee and from Judea; and a large
number of people came to him also from Jerusalem, from Idumea, from
beyond the Jordan...”
(Mark 3:7-12) Blessed John XXIII
(1881-1963), pope (Journal
of a soul, § 1935-1944) “Lord, open my lips; my mouth
will proclaim your praise” (Ps 50,17). When we think that these words
are repeated at all Matins, in the name of the Church, who prays for
herself and for the whole world, and repeated by innumerable lips
opened by the touch of the grace they have invoked, the vision
broadens, comes alive and is fulfilled. Here the Church is seen not as
a historic monument of the past but as a living institution. Holy
Church is not like a place that is built in a year. It is a vast city
which must one day cover the whole universe: “With the joy of the whole
earth is Mount Sion founded; in the far north the city of the great
king” (Ps 47,3).
The building was begun twenty centuries ago, but it spreads and
stretches through all lands until the name of Christ is everywhere
adored. As the Church increases so new nations, hearing the good news,
rejoice: “And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad” (Acts
13,48). The pious and daring commentator concludes with a thought that
is very fine and uplifting for every priest as he reads his Breviary:
everyone must take part in this building of Holy Church.
He whose work is preaching this grand enterprise must, as a messenger
of His Gospel, say to the Lord: “Lord, thou wilt open my lips and my
mouth shall declare thy praise”. A priest who is not engaged in
missionary work should long to co-operate in the great task of the
apostolate, and when he reads the Psalms privately in his cell he also
should say: “Lord, thou wilt open my lips”, because even there, through
the communion of love, he must consider as his own voice any voice that
is at that moment announcing the Gospel, the supreme praise of God
which has given us the theme for this verse more charged with hidden
mysteries than with words.
(Selected
by "The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
Think how pleasing to Our Lord is the
incense burnt in his honour. Think also how little the things of this
earth are worth; even as they begin they are already ending.
In Heaven, instead, a great Love awaits you, with no betrayals and no
deceptions. The fulness of love, the fulness of beauty and greatness
and knowledge|... And it will never cloy: it will satiate, yet still
you will want more.
(The Forge,
no.995)
When does the Church oblige her members to
participate at Holy Mass?
The Church obliges the faithful to participate at Holy Mass every
Sunday and on holy days of obligation. She recommends participation at
Holy Mass on other days as well. (CCC 1389, 1417)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.289)
(January 19) Today let us think of Saint Wulfstan(Saints)
Scripture today:
Hebrews
8:6-13; Psalm 85:8 and 10, 11-12,
13-14; Mark 3:13-19
Jesus went up the
mountain and summoned those whom he wanted and they came to him. He
appointed Twelve, whom he also named Apostles, that they might be with
him and he might send them forth to preach and to have authority to
drive out demons: He appointed the Twelve: Simon, whom he named Peter;
James, son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James, whom he named
Boanerges, that is, sons of thunder; Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew,
Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus; Thaddeus, Simon the
Cananean, and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him.
(Mark 3:13-19)
Some time back
there was a television series on the work of Christ, considered as an
event of history. In the series his work was continually referred to as
a “movement”. The sense of this was that the Christianity intended by
Christ had practically no structures but was simply the effect on men
of his personal influence. His message, his
example, and the power of his personality inspired individuals and
communities to embrace his teaching and to inspire others to do the
same. The resultant movement as shaped by circumstances and men’s
convictions was and is Christianity. The experts who were interviewed
during its episodes put little store on what was a central creation of
Christ, his Church, which they seemed to interpret as something of an
accident. But in fact, by intent Christ established a definite Church,
and
he called it just that - his “Church”. When Simon gave our Lord his
magnificent answer to the question of who Jesus was, our Lord told him
that he, Simon, would be the rock of his “Church.” So he was
establishing a Church, and clearly the fruits of his work for man’s
redemption and sanctification he would entrust to his Church. Before
ascending to heaven he told them, I shall be with you till the end of
the age. So he would remain in the Church till the end. Well now, in
our Gospel today (Mark 3:13-19) we see our Lord taking
the early steps to form his Church. Among his many disciples he
“summoned those whom he wanted and they came to him.” He then
“appointed Twelve, whom he also named Apostles.” His Church, so
essential to bringing his work of redemption to all, would be one and
apostolic. It would be forever founded on his Apostles, his
“ambassadors” or “envoys”. The Church of the ages was beginning to
receive its enduring structure.
Nothing and no
person stands between us and Christ. But the person, the teaching and
the redemption won for us by Christ is not brought to us by a
free-wheeling movement of men and women with deep convictions about
him. Christ
founded a Church to do this, a body that had at its head the Apostles
with their specific roles. What these were would become more and more
evident as time
went on and as the Spirit of Jesus gradually made clear. In our Gospel
passage today we see the beginnings of the Church which would be born
into life at Pentecost by the power and with the assistance of the Holy
Spirit. Here in our passage today Christ appoints the Twelve with Simon
leading the list. Him Christ named Peter, the Rock. The Christian who
loves the living Christ and who wishes to serve him must consider very
carefully Christ’s plan in appointing the Twelve as his Apostles. Where
is that Church now that he was forming then? Christ abides with
that Church now which today’s Gospel passage shows him to be building
then.
Where are the Twelve now, where are their successors, and where is
Simon
Peter and his successors? Loving Christ includes loving what Christ
planned, loved and instituted. Taking our stand with Christ means
taking our stand with the Apostles whom he appointed in order “that
they might be
with him and he might send them forth to preach and to have authority
to drive out demons.” For many years we have been hearing some say,
“Christ yes, the Church no.” Well, it cannot be like that because that
is not how Christ intended it. Christ intended to be preached by those
he appointed and by the Church he founded with the structure he gave
it. He intended his power to combat Satan to be exercised by
those he appointed. If we love Christ we must consider with the utmost
seriousness the question of where Christ is to be found. He is not
found simply in free-wheeling movements. He is found in the Church he
instituted. The
question is, where is that Church?
The claim of the
Catholic Church has always been that she is that Church. She is the
body of Christ her head, and is his spouse. She is sinful, as were the
Apostles themselves. But where the Church is, there abides the Redeemer
of man. Let us then grow in a profound appreciation of the place of the
Church in our Christian calling, and let us never in our minds
disconnect the Church
from Christ.
(E.J.Tyler)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "He appointed twelve" (Mark 3:13-19)Pope Benedict XVI
(General audience, 10 May 2006)
The Lord founded the Church by calling
together the Twelve, who were to represent the future People of God. Faithful to the Lord's mandate,
after his Ascension…, the Twelve continued to involve others in the
duties entrusted to them so that they might continue their ministry.
The Risen Lord himself called Paul (cf. Gal 1: 1)… This is the way in
which this ministry, known from the second generation as the episcopal
ministry, episcope, was to be continued… In this way, succession in the
role of Bishop is presented as the continuity of the Apostolic
ministry, a guarantee of the permanence of the Apostolic Tradition,
word and life, entrusted to us by the Lord.
The link between the College of Bishops and the original community of
the Apostles is understood above all in the line of historical
continuity. As we have seen, first Matthias, then Paul, then Barnabas
joined the Twelve, then others, until, in the second and third
generations, the Bishop's ministry took shape… And in the continuity of
the succession lies the guarantee of the permanence, in the Ecclesial
Community, of the Apostolic College that Christ had gathered around him.
This continuity, however, should also be understood in a spiritual
sense, because Apostolic Succession in the ministry is considered a
privileged place for the action and transmission of the Holy Spirit. We
find these convictions clearly echoed in the following text, for
example, by Irenaeus of Lyons: "It is within the power of all...
in every Church, who may wish to see the truth, to contemplate clearly
the tradition of the Apostles manifested throughout the whole world;
and we are in a position to count those who were by the Apostles
instituted Bishops in the Churches and... the succession of these men
to our own times.... [The Apostles] were desirous that these men, whom
also they were leaving behind as their successors, should be very
perfect and blameless in all things, delivering up their own place of
government to these men."
(Selected by "The
Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
With a supernatural outlook, with
serenity and peace. That is the way to see things, people and events —
from the viewpoint of eternity.
And then, whatever barrier blocks your way — even if it is, humanly
speaking, enormous — when you really raise your eyes to Heaven, how
tiny it becomes!
(The Forge,
no.996)
When must one receive Holy Communion?
The Church recommends that the faithful, if they have the required
dispositions, receive Holy Communion whenever they participate at Holy
Mass. However, the Church obliges them to receive Holy Communion at
least once a year during the Easter season. (CCC 1389)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.290)
(January 20) Today the Church celebrates St. Fabian and St. Sebastian St Fabian, pope
and martyr (died 240). St Fabian was Pope from 236 to 250 AD. He
promoted the consolidation and development of the Church. He divided
Rome into seven diaconates for the purpose of extending aid to the
poor. The papacy acquired such prestige during this time that he
incurred the ire of the Emperor Decius. (Saints) St. Sebastian
He suffered martyrdom in Rome at the beginning of the persecution
of Diocletian. His tomb in the place named Ad Catacumbas on the Via
Appia has been venerated by the faithful from earliest times. (Saints)
Jesus came with his
disciples into the house. Again the crowd gathered, making it
impossible for them even to eat. When his relatives heard of this they
set out to seize him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”(Mark 3:20-21)
Our Gospel scene
takes us into what may have been a typical day in much of our Lord’s
public ministry. He and his disciples were given over to intense and
unending work. We are told that on this day our Lord came with his
disciples into the house, possibly to have a respite and to have
something to eat, because the problem of getting something to eat is
then specifically mentioned. But the crowds followed him and there was no respite at
all, with people thronging in and listening to him, possibly asking him
questions, and presumably making countless requests. They did not have
a minute to themselves, not even to catch a bite to eat. The fact that
our Lord’s “relatives” were saying that “he is beside himself” would
suggest that the great press of the crowds was due to our Lord giving
himself entirely to them. Nothing was holding him back in his gift of
himself to them in his work. The crowds knew he loved them profoundly
and was full of compassion for their burdens. This comes through time
and again in the Gospels. From the point of view of the crowds, here
they had before them a profoundly holy man with unheard of power before
God. He taught with absolute authority and wielded authority over
nature and the demonic world as well. He could do anything for them and
he seemed to them to be entirely accessible. The intensity of his work
and the scale of his availability shows the love behind our Lord’s
ministry. It seemed to his relatives that he was “beside himself”, or
“out of his mind” (Mark 3:20-21). A modern saint often
spoke of being mad with love for God and for all others in God. The
exemplar of this is Jesus and we have evidence of it in today’s Gospel.
But there are
further implications in our brief Gospel today. Consider the ease with
which our Lord’s relatives presumed to set out to restrain him, saying
“He is our of his mind.” It suggests that during our Lord’s thirty
years at Nazareth he was remarkably humble, unassuming, and very much
part of his family circle and town. Our Lord was unique in the
greatness of his person, but he did not show it during those years. One
senses from this reaction of his relatives that, while they would have
recognized the goodness of his person and that of his mother and
foster-father, his goodness did not impose itself on them. They were in
no way cowered by it. Indeed, our brief Gospel today suggests that they
took him somewhat for granted, and this in turn suggests that our Lord
accepted this attitude to him during those hidden years at Nazareth.
How like so many family and community situations this is! Our Lord once
said that a prophet is never accepted as such among his own. He had
been a hidden Messiah, and his bursting on the public scene was the
utmost surprise to his townspeople and to his relatives - with the
exception of Mary his mother. All of this reminds us how truly
incarnated he, the second divine person, really was. God became man and
as man subjected himself to all the normal laws of human and social
life. He was God-with-us, with us in every way, with the exception of
having personal sin. Christ on one occasion described his heart: it was
meek and humble. Nazareth illustrates how this was so. The contrast
between his hidden and very human years at Nazareth and his spectacular
public ministry as described in our Gospel today was striking.
Let us think of
this divine Christ who was so very human. Our brief Gospel scene shows
Jesus pouring himself out in love for his fellow-man in unremittingly
intense work. Those who had known him all along in his family circle
thought he was beside himself, out of his mind. Christ wishes to give
himself to each of us with equal love and generosity. Let us ask for
his grace and his love. Let us accept his invitation to come to him and
learn from him for he is meek and humble of heart, and we shall find
rest for our souls.
(E.J.Tyler)
Handed
over to men and to his Father, Christ provides for us with his Word and
the Bread of life Imitation of Jesus
Christ, spiritual treatise of the 15th century (Book IV, ch. 11)
Lord God, thou art my witness that nothing can give me comfort nor no
creature may give me rest but thou my Lord God whom I desire eternally
to behold. But that is a thing to me not possible while that I am in
this mortal life...In the meanwhile...I have full virtuous and holy
books for the consolation and mirror of my life and also above all
these things thy sacred body for my singular refuge and remedy.
I feel that two things be unto me right necessary without which this
miserable life should be unto me inportable. For as long as I shall be
holden in this present body I confess me to have need of two things,
that is to know (say) of meat and light. But therefore thou hast given
unto me which am poor and sick thy holy body to the refreshing of my
soul and body, and also thou hast put before my faith the light of the
holy word; and without these two things I may not well live
spiritually; for thy word, my Lord and God, is the light of my soul and
the holy sacrament is the bread of my life.
These two things so necessary may also be called the tables set on
either side in the treasury of holy church; the one table is of the
holy altar having this lovely bread, that is to say, the precious body
of Jesus Christ; the other is the Law of God containing the holy
doctrine and showing the right faith and surely guiding me unto the
inward sacrifice where are the holy jewels called Sancta Sanctorum
(Holy of Holies).
I yield unto thee thanks to Jesus Christ which art the very clearness
of eternal light for this table of holy doctrine which thou have
ministered unto us by thy servants, prophets, apostles and other
doctors; and I yield unto thee thanks again, creator and redeemer of
mankind, which hast declared thy great charity unto all the world and
hast prepared this royal supper in the which thou hast not purposed to
be eaten the figurative lamb but thy most holy body and precious blood
rejoicing all thy creatures by that sacred banquet and sweetly
fulfilling them with that healthful chalice, wherein be hid all the
delights and joys of Paradise.
(Selected by "The Daily Gospel", New
Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
If we are close to Christ and
are following in his footsteps, we will wholeheartedly love poverty,
privation and detachment from earthly things.
(The Forge,
no.997)
What
is required to receive Holy Communion? To receive Holy Communion one must be
fully incorporated into the Catholic Church and be in the state of
grace, that is, not conscious of being in mortal sin. Anyone who is
conscious of having committed a grave sin must first receive the
sacrament of Reconciliation before going to Communion. Also important
for those receiving Holy Communion are a spirit of recollection and
prayer, observance of the fast prescribed by the Church, and an
appropriate disposition of the body (gestures and dress) as a sign of
respect for Christ.
(CCC 1385-1389, 1415)
(Compendium
of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.291)
(January 21) St. Agnes virgin and
martyr (died 304) St Agnes came from a noble Roman family. She
was about thirteen years old when she suffered martyrdom. She was
tortured and beheaded. Her name is included in the Roman Canon. Pope
Damasus wrote a celebrated epitaph about her. (Saints)
Since many have
undertaken to compile a narrative of the events that have been
fulfilled among us, just as those who were eyewitnesses from the
beginning and ministers of the word have handed them down to us, I too
have decided, after investigating everything accurately anew, to write
it down in an orderly sequence for you, most excellent Theophilus, so
that you may realize the certainty of the teachings you have received.
Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news of him
spread throughout the whole region. He taught in their synagogues and
was praised by all. He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and
went according to his custom into the synagogue on the sabbath day. He
stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He
unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: The
Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad
tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and
recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to
proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord. Rolling up the scroll, he
handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in
the synagogue looked intently at him. He said to them, “Today this
Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”(Luke 1:1-4;
4:14-21)
Our Gospel passage
today
begins with the introductory words of Luke’s Gospel in which he makes
it clear that he intends providing the reader with an ordered
history of his subject. He mentions that “many” have drawn up an
account of the story of Jesus as told by eyewitnesses and preachers of
the word (Luke 1:1-4).
That alone suggests that what was expected in the infant Church was a
presentation of actual facts as narrated by eyewitnesses, and that many
had indeed attempted to provide this. So the early Church expected
accounts of Jesus Christ to be factual. There was no place for myths
and fanciful legends. Luke tells us that he has carefully gone over
everything from the beginning - presumably by examining existing
accounts, many of which may have been piecemeal. He has investigated
their truth, done his own careful research, and written up an
ordered and reliable account. He wants to provide Theophilus (i.e., the
one loved by God) with an account of Jesus Christ that is systematic
and certain. We are being assured by Luke that our faith in Jesus the
Saviour is based on historical certainties. This care
to present facts is illustrated in our Gospel passage today.
Luke
begins by describing the broad sweep of our Lord’s activity in simple terms: “Jesus
returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news of him spread
throughout the whole region. He taught in their synagogues and was
praised by all” (Luke 4:14).
Simple facts are given. But Luke then goes beyond this general picture
to a detailed description of our Lord in the synagogue of Nazareth
announcing his mission. Luke may have given us these details because of
the importance of the event. “He came to Nazareth, where he had grown
up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the sabbath
day. He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah.
He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: The
Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad
tidings to the poor” (Luke
4:14-21).
Plenty of personal details are given. Our Lord enters the synagogue and
sits down. He stands up to read, he goes forward and he is handed the
scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolls the scroll, finds the passage,
reads it, hands it back to the attendant, sits down and gives his
sensational address in which he states that Isaiah’s prophecy is being
fulfilled before their very eyes. The one Isaiah prophesied so
long before, the people of Nazareth can see before them now.
Let us
immerse ourselves in St Luke’s detailed description of Jesus here. Let
us be filled with a sense of the facts as described. The person of
Jesus stands forth as vivid and as very real. Placing ourselves in the
presence of Jesus by means of our prayerful memory, let us contemplate
him. We are among his disciples in the synagogue, gazing on his
wonderful person. He reads the prophecy that “The Spirit of the Lord is
upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to
the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year
acceptable to the Lord” (Luke
4:14-21).
Isaiah was pointing to a Messiah who would be Saviour to the poor, the
blind, the oppressed and to those who lack freedom. This is exactly the
condition of the world considered in itself and as unreconciled with
God. Its blindness, its spiritual and moral poverty, its state of
oppression is ultimately due to sin and it is by dealing with sin that
the Messiah would bring true freedom to man. Our Lord announces to his
own townspeople that he is the long expected Messiah and his mission
would be to save. Hearing his words, let us renew in our hearts our
profession of that fundamental article of the Apostles’ and Nicene
Creeds: I believe in Jesus Christ. I believe in Jesus who is the
Messiah, the anointed one, the one who is filled with the Holy Spirit
and who gives the Holy Spirit to those who believe in him. He is the
one who takes away the sin of the world. He is the promised One who
establishes God’s kingdom on earth, that kingdom which will never end
and which we are called to live in and live for.
One
of the problems of modern culture is the difficulty people have in
regarding the things of God as real. We must acquire the conviction
that the bedrock reality in our lives is Jesus. He is the one Messiah,
the Christ, the only one who brings to man all heavenly blessings
intended for us by God.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further
reading: The
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.430-440
What are the fruits of Holy Communion?
Holy Communion increases our union with Christ and with his Church. It
preserves and renews the life of grace received at Baptism and
Confirmation and makes us grow in love for our neighbor. It strengthens
us in charity, wipes away venial sins and preserves us from mortal sin
in the future. (CCC 1391-1397, 1416)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.292)
(January 22) St Vincent, deacon
and martyr (died 304). St Vincent of Saragossa, Spain, one of
the greatest deacons of the Church, suffered martyrdom in Valencia in
the persecution under Diocletian. He was born in Huesca, Spain. (Saints) Scripture today:
Hebrews
9:15, 24-28; Psalm 98:1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4,
5-6; Mark 3:22-30
The scribes who had come
from Jerusalem said of Jesus, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “By
the prince of demons he drives out demons.” Summoning them, he began to
speak to them in parables, “How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom
is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is
divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if
Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand;
that is the end of him. But no one can enter a strong man’s house to
plunder his property unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he
can plunder his house. Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies
that people utter will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against
the Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an
everlasting sin.” For they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”(Mark 3:22-30) There are a few
striking things to be observed in our Gospel text today. Ultimately
there are two opposing poles of reality and influence: good and evil,
God and those who are against him. We see this reflected in our Gospel
scene today with the scribes on the one hand, and Christ on the other.
Our Gospel scene opens with the
scribes who had come from Jerusalem saying of Jesus that he was
possessed by Satan and in league with demons, and that this was the
source of his power over the underworld. What a wonder this is, that
the religious leaders could say such a thing of the all-holy Christ,
the one whom the devils said to be the Holy One of God, the One whom we
know to be the Son of God! That the scribes in their blindness said
this of Christ shows the power and darkness of sin. Moreover, there is
also this that the scribes were in effect speaking of the Holy Spirit
because our Lord goes on to say that “whoever blasphemes against the
Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an
everlasting sin.” For they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.” (Mark
3:22-30). In
saying that Christ was possessed of an unclean spirit, they were saying
that the Holy Spirit was unclean. This was a most serious blasphemy and
presumably one which involved a clear sin against the evident light
because our Lord teaches that “whoever blasphemes against the Holy
Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting
sin.” By contrast with the scribes, consider the love which in this
very remark our Lord showed for the Person of the Holy Spirit.
But we also have
our Lord’s words on Satan. First of all, our Lord reminds us that Satan
truly exists, which is something which men of our day do not take at
all seriously. I remember when some decades ago Pope Paul VI said that
the smoke of Satan had entered the post-conciliar Church it was
reported in the media with mirth. The amusing thing for the media was
the very mention of Satan. But Christ repeatedly reminds us that he is
real. In this very passage he implies that his great (but doomed) enemy
is Satan. Moreover, our Lord seems to be implying that Satan works with
intelligence and system. He works as a kingdom and as a household, with
a certain unity in order to make progress: “If a kingdom is divided
against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided
against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has
risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand; that is the
end of him.” Satan knows this, and does not work as one who is divided.
But - and this is the consoling addition to our Lord’s words - one
stronger than he has arrived and he will tie up Satan and plunder his
property. At the beginning of his public ministry our Lord was led into
the desert by the Holy Spirit in order to encounter Satan. At that
encounter Satan said that if he, Jesus, would worship him, he would
give to him the kingdoms of the world, for they were his. Now, to a
great extent this was correct, but the Messiah had arrived to tie up
Satan and to plunder his property.
Our passage reminds
us of Sin and Satan on the one hand, and of Christ and the Holy Spirit
on the other. Let us take our stand with Christ and ask of him an ever
greater gift of the Holy Spirit so as to fight with him in combat with
Satan. There are two kingdoms, two households at war. The one is of
Satan, the other of Christ. The result is a foregone conclusion. Let us
make sure we fight with the stronger one.
(E.J.Tyler)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Sin
against the Holy Spirit(Mark 3:22-30)Pope John Paul II
(Encyclical "Dominum
et vivificantem", § 46)
Why is blasphemy
against the Holy Spirit unforgivable? How should this blasphemy be
understood? St. Thomas Aquinas replies that it is a question of a sin
that is "unforgivable by its very nature, insofar as it excludes the
elements through which the forgiveness of sin takes place." According
to such an exegesis, "blasphemy" does not properly consist in offending
against the Holy Spirit in words; it consists rather in the refusal to
accept the salvation which God offers to man through the Holy Spirit,
working through the power of the Cross. If man rejects the "convincing
concerning sin" which comes from the Holy Spirit (Jn 16:8) and which
has the power to save, he also rejects the "coming" of the Counselor
(Jn 16:7) that "coming" which was accomplished in the Paschal Mystery,
in union with the redemptive power of Christ's Blood: the Blood which
"purifies the conscience from dead works." (He 9:14)
We know that the result of such a purification is the forgiveness of
sins. Therefore, whoever rejects the Spirit and the Blood (1Jn 5:8)
remains in "dead works," in sin. And the blasphemy against the Holy
Spirit consists precisely in the radical refusal to accept this
forgiveness, of which he is the intimate giver and which presupposes
the genuine conversion which he brings about in the conscience. If
Jesus says that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit cannot be forgiven
either in this life or in the next, it is because this
"non-forgiveness" is linked, as to its cause, to "non-repentance," in
other words to the radical refusal to be converted…
Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, then, is the sin committed by the
person who claims to have a "right" to persist in evil-in any sin at
all-and who thus rejects Redemption. One closes oneself up in sin, thus
making impossible one's conversion, and consequently the remission of
sins, which one considers not essential or not important for one's
life. This is a state of spiritual ruin, because blasphemy against the
Holy Spirit does not allow one to escape from one's self-imposed
imprisonment and open oneself to the divine sources of the purification
of consciences and of the remission of sins.
(Selected by "The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
Men lie when they say “forever”' in
temporal matters. The only true “forever”, in the complete sense, is
the forever of eternity. And that is the way you have to live, with a
faith that brings a foretaste of the sweet honey of Heaven whenever you
think about that eternity which is truly everlasting.
(The Forge,
no.999)
When is it possible to give Holy Communion
to other Christians? Catholic ministers may give Holy
Communion licitly to members of the Oriental Churches which are not in
full communion with the Catholic Church whenever they ask for it of
their own will and possess the required dispositions. Catholic
ministers may licitly give Holy Communion to members of other ecclesial
communities only if, in grave necessity, they ask for it of their own
will, possess the required dispositions, and give evidence of holding
the Catholic faith regarding the sacrament. (CCC 1398-1401)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.293)
(January 23) Today let us think of Saint John the Almsgiver(Saints)
Scripture
today: Hebrews
10:1-10; Psalm 40:2 and 4ab, 7-8a, 10,
11; Mark 3:31-35
The mother of Jesus and
his brothers arrived at the house. Standing outside, they sent word to
Jesus and called him. A crowd seated around him told him, “Your mother
and your brothers and your sisters are outside asking for you.” But he
said to them in reply, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking
around at those seated in the circle he said, “Here are my mother and
my brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister
and mother.” (Mark 3:31-35)
Our Gospel scene
today provides us with a fascinating consideration. Our Lord’s “mother
and brothers” arrive at the house where he is speaking, and we see from
the next sentence that these included his “sisters”. Of course, we know
that because Mary his mother was ever a virgin these brethren of our
Lord were not immediate blood brothers and sisters, but relatives
within the wider family. They were somewhat importunate in this scene,
and
undoubtedly these relatives with whom he had grown up were a mixed lot.
There is no reason to think that in general they
were anything other than ordinary people with typical foibles and
faults.
The outstanding exception to this was, of course, Mary the mother of
Jesus, whose holiness, while limited, was both complete and ever
advancing. She was full of grace and no sin ever touched her. Here
we have in our Gospel scene today the picture of our Lord’s relatives
pressing
on him that they wanted to see him. Let us think of our Lord and Mary
his
mother, both persons of incomparable holiness, living as members of a
very imperfect family and social circle. They lived truly immersed in
and part of their family and social situation. In Christ’s case it was
part and parcel of becoming man. His incarnation was genuine. There is
a great lesson in this for all of us. Very often there is so much that
is unsatisfactory and frustrating in the situation in which the
providence
of God and our own decisions have placed us. The attitudes,
temperament and behaviour of those around us as well as our own
personal decisions often make up a very imperfect life situation
for us. We may be tempted to think, if only I were part of a reality
that is very, very different. If only I could leave my situation. But
let us take inspiration from our Lord’s acceptance of and immersion in
his own social ambient. It is where God and our circumstances have
placed us that we are called to live out our vocation whatever it may
be. The thought of Jesus and Mary immersed in and part of the reality
of their wider very ordinary family can help us in this.
In our Gospel our
Lord himself comments on what it means to be his brothers and sisters.
How wonderful it would have been, we might tend to think, to have been
a member of our Lord’s wider family and to have known him all those
years of his growth to maturity! Indeed, the thought of the Holy Family
at Nazareth, the immediate family of Jesus involving Mary and his
foster-father Joseph, has provided the Christian soul with unending
inspiration. But of course we are looking on our Lord’s person with the
eyes of faith which Mary and Joseph had to perfection, but which our
Lord’s wider circle of relatives did not have during those years. This
wider circle did not know that their relative was God the Son. The
point to be appreciated here, though, is that if every day we determine
to do the will of God, Christ will regard us as his brother and his
sister and his mother. Our Gospel scene today gives our Lord’s
response to the news of his relatives waiting outside. “He said to them
in reply, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking around at
those seated in the circle he said, “Here are my mother and my
brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and
mother” (Mark
3:31-35).
Those in front of him listening to his words won his love. They were
listening to the word of God and desired to put it into practice. They
were part of our Lord’s true family, his brothers and sisters in God
his heavenly Father. If God’s will is the guide of our life Christ will
unite himself to us far more intimately than he did with the wider
natural family circle that became his in being born into this world.
Mary his mother was sinless. Joseph his foster-father was very, very
holy. This has been the thought, the tradition and the teaching of the
Church, and is therefore most true. We learn from our Lord’s remarks in
today’s passage that the truest basis of the union with our Lord
enjoyed by Mary and Joseph at Nazareth was their holiness and
commitment to the will of God. We can share in this union if we like
them make the will of God our life.
Let us accept the
situation of our lives as that which the providence of God has
permitted or arranged, resolving to make the very best of it and to do
the work of God right where we are. Our inspiration for this is our
Lord himself. Let us not be forever pining after greener pastures.
Christ was immersed in and part of a very particular situation with all
its foibles and limitations. Likewise his holy mother lived her life in
this mixed and limited reality. Our daily aim in the life situation we
are placed in should be to do the will of God precisely where we are,
with all its frustrations. Let us sanctify ourselves and the reality in
which we have been placed. If we do this we shall be true brothers and
sisters of Christ, our brother and our God.
(E.J.Tyler)
Why is the Eucharist a “pledge of future
glory”? The Eucharist is a pledge of future glory
because it fills us with every grace and heavenly blessing. It
fortifies us for our pilgrimage in this life and makes us long for
eternal life. It unites us already to Christ seated at the right hand
of the Father, to the Church in heaven and to the Blessed Virgin and
all the saints. (CCC 1402-1405)
In the Eucharist, we “break the one bread that
provides the medicine of immortality, the antidote for death and the
food that makes us live forever in Jesus Christ.” (Saint Ignatius of
Antioch)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.294)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday
of the third week of Ordinary Time II
(January 24) Saint Francis de
Sales, bishop and doctor of the Church bishop and doctor of the Church
(1567-1622). Born in Thorens, Savoy (France). With apostolic
zeal, St Francis de Sales fought Calvinism. He was Bishop of Geneva.
With St Frances Fremyot de Chantal, he formed the Order of the
Visitation. He wrote the Introduction to the Devout Life, a classic of
spiritual direction, together with other works such as On the Love of
God. He died in Lyons and was canonized in 1655. In 1877 Pius IX
proclaimed him Doctor of the Church. Pius XI declared him to be Patron
Saint of Journalists and Other Writers. (Saints)
On another
occasion, Jesus began to teach by the sea. A very large crowd gathered
around him so that he got into a boat on the sea and sat down. And the
whole crowd was beside the sea on land. And he taught them at length in parables, and in
the course of his instruction he said to them, “Hear this! A sower went
out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds
came and ate it up. Other seed fell on rocky
ground where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil
was not deep. And when the sun rose, it was scorched and it withered
for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up
and choked it and it produced no grain. And some seed fell on rich soil
and produced fruit. It came up and grew and yielded thirty, sixty, and
a hundredfold.” He added, “Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear.” And
when he was alone, those present along with the Twelve questioned him
about the parables. He answered them, “The mystery of the Kingdom of
God has been granted to you. But to those outside everything comes in
parables, so that they may look and see but not perceive, and hear and
listen but not understand, in order that they may not be converted and
be forgiven.” Jesus said to them, “Do you not understand this parable?
Then how will you understand any of the parables? The sower sows the
word. These are the ones on the path where the word is sown. As soon as
they hear, Satan comes at once and takes away the word sown in them.
And these are the ones sown on rocky ground who, when they hear the
word, receive it at once with joy. But they have no roots; they last
only for a time. Then when tribulation or persecution comes because of
the word, they quickly fall away. Those sown among thorns are another
sort. They are the people who hear the word, but worldly anxiety, the
lure of riches, and the craving for other things intrude and choke the
word, and it bears no fruit. But those sown on rich soil are the ones
who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit thirty and sixty and a
hundredfold.” (Mark
4:1-20)
There have been
many great teachers in the history of the world and they have come from
East and West. In the Ancient World we think of the philosophers
Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. We think perhaps of Cicero and even
Marcus Aurelius. In religion we think of Zarathusthra, Buddha,
Confucius, and centuries later Mahomet. The Christian recognizes as
standing out above them all the figure of Jesus Christ because of who he really was and
the divine revelation he gave. But as we consider these various figures
we notice how varied are the genres they employed to communicate their
respective doctrines. In respect to Christ, it is noteworthy how
relatively simple and concrete is the medium of his teaching. He
characteristically (but not exclusively) teaches by means of stories
drawn from everyday life. The message conveyed is generally a simple
one but pivotal to the life in God to which he was calling his hearers.
The result is that his teaching is accessible to the world at large and
will be so till the end of time. By contrast, let us consider the
teaching of Aristotle, to take but one example. His philosophical
thought is great, but how many read it? Christ did not present himself
as a philosopher, even though his teaching has spawned a vast river of
philosophical thought. His method of teaching is eminently simple. Our
Gospel passage today is a case in point (Mark 4:1-20). Our Lord draws an
illustration from the everyday life of the farming community in which
he lived since his infancy and during his public ministry. It is the
parable of the farmer going out to sow, and his seed falls on ground of
uneven quality, and the crop that is produced varies accordingly. Two
things are in sight: the power of the seed and the quality of the soil,
though it is clear from the space given to these two components of the
parable that our Lord’s primary focus is on the quality of the soil.
Years ago in my
youth a priest said that holiness is 99% due to the grace of God and 1%
the result of our own efforts. But we must put in that 1%, and that 1 %
is all that we have. On one occasion our Lord was asked which is the
greatest commandment of the Law, and he replied that it is to love the
Lord God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. That’s the 1%, we
might say. On another occasion our Lord was seated in the Temple and
was watching various persons contributing to the Temple Treasury. The
rich put in a considerable amount, and along came a poor widow who put
in two very small coins. Our Lord summoned his disciples and, pointing
out the widow to them, told them that she had put in more than all the
others because she had contributed all she had to live on. She had
given God all she had. That’s the 1% in the equation. That gift to God
of our whole self is absolutely essential to holiness, but it is not
sufficient - in fact it would not be possible without the action of
God. That is why the other 99 % is the grace of God. Now, our Lord’s
parable today of the sower going out to sow his seed features these two
elements. The sower sows the word which is pregnant with God’s grace.
The word and grace of God has a power that is without limit of itself,
provided the one who receives the word is properly disposed. That
proper disposition is symbolized in the soil which receives the seed of
the word of God. If only we could be properly disposed! The saints show
us what can happen if we receive the grace and revelation of God with
generosity and perseverence. Above all, Mary the mother of God shows us
what God can do in the human soul. God is almighty, and the only thing
that can limit his work is the bad use of the freedom he has given
us.
Let us put our
trust in the power of God and his grace. We believe in God the Almighty
Father. He is almighty, and so he can lead us to sanctity. He can give
us the mind of Christ. We have failed, yes, but we must simply start
again, putting our faith in the power of God. We start again and again,
determined to receive well the word and the grace of God that is
constantly available to us in the ministry and Sacraments of the
Church. Let us determine to do this with perseverence, never losing
heart. God will do his work.
(E.J.Tyler)
"Anyone who has ears to hear ought to hear"(Mark 4:1-20) Saint John Chrysostom
(about 345-407), bishop and doctor of the Church (Homily 44 on
Saint Matthew, 3-4)
Now these things the Christ said in the parable of the sower
manifesting that He discoursed to all without grudging. For as the
sower makes no distinction in the land submitted to him, but simply and
indifferently casts his seed; so He Himself too makes no distinction of
rich and poor, of wise and unwise, of slothful or diligent, of brave or
cowardly; but He discourses unto all, fulfilling His part, although
foreknowing the results; that it may be in His power to say, "What
ought I to have done, that I have not done?" (Is 5,4)...
But this parable He speaks, as anointing His disciples, and to teach
them, that even though the lost be more than such as receive the word
yet they are not to despond. For this was the case even with their
Lord, and He who fully foreknew that these things should be, did not
desist from sowing.
And how can it be reasonable, saith one, to sow among the thorns, on
the rock, on the wayside? With regard to the seeds and the earth it
cannot be reasonable; but in the case of men's souls and their
instructions, it hath its praise, and that abundantly. For the
husbandman indeed would reasonably be blamed for doing this; it being
impossible for the rock to become earth, or the wayside not to be a
wayside, or the thorns, thorns; but in the things that have reason it
is not so. There is such a thing as the rock changing, and becoming
rich land; and the wayside being no longer trampled on, nor lying open
to all that pass by, but that it may be a fertile field; and the thorns
may be destroyed, and the seed enjoy full security. For had it been
impossible, this Sower would not have sown. And if the change did not
take place in all, this is no fault of the Sower, but of them who are
unwilling to be changed: He having done His part: and if they betrayed
what they received of Him, He is blameless, the exhibitor of such love
to man.
(Selected by "The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Keep going forward cheerfully and trying
hard, even though you are so little — nothing at all! When you are with
Him nobody in the world can stop you. Consider, moreover, how
everything is good for those who love God. Every problem in this world
has a solution, except death, and for us death is Life.
(The Forge,
no.1001)
Why did Christ institute the sacraments of
Penance and the Anointing of the Sick?
Christ, the physician of our soul and body, instituted these sacraments
because the new life that he gives us in the sacraments of Christian
initiation can be weakened and even lost because of sin. Therefore,
Christ willed that his Church should continue his work of healing and
salvation by means of these two sacraments. (CCC 1420-1421, 1426)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.95)
(January 25)
Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, Apostle The
conversion of Saul of Tarsus, while he was on his way to Damascus, is
one of the most touching miracles in the history of the early Church.
It shows us how faith comes from grace and from man’s free cooperation.
The doctrine of the Mystical Body of Christ receives proof and a clear
illustration when Christ says, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
We should realize that the best way to hasten the unity of all
Christians is to foster our own daily personal conversion. (Saints)
Scripture today:
Acts 22:3-16
or Acts
9:1-22; Psalm 117:1bc, 2; Mark
16:15-18
Jesus appeared to
the Eleven and said to them: “Go into the whole world
and proclaim the Gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is
baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned.
These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will
drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up
serpents with their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will
not harm them.(Mark 16:15-18)
If we consider
Christ within the setting of numerous other world
figures, one of the distinctive features of the figure of Christ is
that from the beginning he was a person for the whole world. At
his
birth the angels appeared to the shepherds heralding the arrival in
Bethlehem of “Christ the Lord”. It
was an event bringing “peace on
earth” to men of good will. So the whole earth would be affected by his
birth. Simeon prophesied that he would be a “light to the
gentiles”. At the beginning of his public ministry John the Baptist
pointed him
out saying that he was the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of “the
world”. That is to say, his work would bring an incalculable benefit to
the whole world. Very soon after this he was led by the Holy Spirit
into the desert to be tempted by Satan. One of Satan’s temptations was
that if he would but worship him he (Satan) would give to him the
kingdoms of the world - for they were his. Perhaps Satan divined that
this man before him was absolutely of world stature and had it in him
to be Lord of the world. He was trying to tempt Jesus at a point where
he thought he may have been vulnerable, in the matter of conquering the
world. So Christ’s mission was a world mission, and his work would
affect the world even if it were not recognized by all. His passion and
death was of world significance and its benefits would mysteriously
concern every man. As St Paul writes, Christ loved me and delivered
himself up for me. The whole world can say the same thing.
At times the
impression is given by some scholars of Christianity that
the Christian faith grew willy-nilly as a result of an amalgam of
conviction, circumstances, and influential personalities such as Saul
of Tarsus (St Paul). Some have even claimed that Paul was the real
founder of Christianity. But no. Our Lord intended that his revelation
be embraced not only by people from all over the world, but by the
whole world itself. That is to say, he came in order to be accepted,
believed, loved and followed by every man and woman on the face of the
earth. That is one of the distinctive features of his person and life,
and such is the plan of God. Obvious evidence of this divine intent
are the opening words of our Gospel passage today, in which our Lord
gives to his disciples his final charge before ascending into heaven.
“Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them: “Go into the whole
world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and
is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned
(Mark
16:15-18).
At this primitive stage of Christian history our Lord commanded his
disciples - and he was actually in the process of leaving
them definitively! - to go to the whole world and bring the news of him
and his work to every single person on the face of the earth. The
average observer would scarcely regard this request as realistic.
Though it was an
astonishing request, our Lord made it of his disciples, and it stands
now. If we wish to be his disciples we must hear
that charge ever anew. If we do not wish to listen to it with
seriousness and do something
about it, then there is missing from our Christian life an absolutely
essential component.
The Christian
people are a sleeping giant. A giant, but sleeping.
Christ wants the giant to awake and be on the move announcing the good
news of the Gospel to all. Too few of us have the courage to speak of
the person of Christ and his work. Too few even know him personally.
Let us ask God for the grace of a profound realization that Christ is
meant for the whole world. In the plan of God every man and woman is
called to know, love and serve Christ. This requires that they be told,
and if they are ever to be told, we ourselves must bear witness and do
the telling.
(E.J.Tyler)
«Lord, what
am I supposed to do?» (Acts 22:3-16) Saint John Chrysostom
(about 345-407), bishop and doctor of the Church (4th Homily on St.
Paul, § 1-2)
The Blessed Paul who gathers us on
this day has illuminated the earth. At the time he received his call,
he was made blind; but his blindness made of him a torch for the world.
He used to see to do evil; in his wisdom God made him blind so as to
enlighten him for doing good. Not only did God reveal his power; he
also revealed him the heart of the faith he was going to preach. He had
to chase far away from him all the prejudices, close the eyes and lose
the fake lights of reason to perceive the true doctrine, “become crazy
to be wise” as he will say later on (1Cor 3,18)...Though one shouldn't
believe that his call was imposed upon him; Paul was free to chose...
Fiery-natured, impetuous, Paul
needed to be stopped abrubtly, to not be taken away by his ardor and
despise the voice of God. Therefore God first repressed this fit of
anger; by blinding him he calmed his anger; then he talked to him. He
revealed him his ineffable wisdom, so that he could recognize the one
who he used to fight and understand that he could not oppose himself
anymore to his grace. It was not the lack of light that made him blind,
but the overabundance of light.
God chose the right moment. Paul is
the first to recognize it: “when (God), who from my mother's womb had
set me apart and called me through his grace, was pleased he revealed
his Son to me” (Gal 1,15)...Let us then learn from the words of Paul
himself, that neither he nor any other person have ever found Christ by
their own personal spirit. It is Christ who reveals himself and who
allows others to get to know him. As the Savior says: “It was not you
who chose me, but I who chose you” (Jn 15,16).
(Selected by "The Daily
Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
Lord, you died on the Cross to
save mankind. And yet for one mortal sin
you condemn a man to a hapless eternity of suffering. How much sin must
offend you, and how much I ought to hate it!
(The Forge,
no.1002)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ What is the name of this sacrament?
It is called the sacrament of Penance, the sacrament of Reconciliation,
the sacrament of Forgiveness, the sacrament of Confession, and the
sacrament of Conversion. (CCC 1422-1424)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.296)
(January 26) Australia Day
Saints Timothy and Titus are celebrated in Australia on January 23
because of Australia Day (today) St Timothy
(died 97) was the son of a pagan father and a Hebrew-Christian mother,
Eunice. He was a disciple of St Paul and accompanied him in the
evangelization of many cities. St Paul consecrated him Bishop of
Ephesus. According to a fourth century story, he was beaten to death by
a mob when he opposed the observance of a pagan festival. (Saints) St Titus
was also a friend and disciple of St Paul who ordained him Bishop of
Crete. (Saints)
St Paul wrote to these two disciples three pastoral letters, which
spoke of the structure of the Church.
Scripture today:
2 Timothy
1:1-8 or Titus 1:1-5; Psalm 96:1-2a, 2b-3, 7-8a,
10; Mark 4:26-34
Jesus said to the
crowds: “This is how it is with the Kingdom of God; it is as if a man
were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day
and the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how. Of its own accord
the land yields fruit, first the blade, then the ear, then the full
grain in the ear. And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at
once, for the harvest has come.” He said, “To what shall we compare the
Kingdom of God, or what parable can we use for it? It is like a mustard
seed that, when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the
seeds on the earth. But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the
largest of plants and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of
the sky can dwell in its shade.” With many such parables he spoke the
word to them as they were able to understand it. Without parables he
did not speak to them, but to his own disciples he explained everything
in private. (Mark
4:26-34)
Our Gospel passage
today is taken from Mark chapter 4, verses 26-34. It speaks of the man
going out to sow seed on the land, and it also speaks of one kind of
seed, the mustard seed. At the beginning of the same chapter there is a
long passage in which our Lord gives a similar parable of the sower
going out to sow, but in that passage the focus is on the soil. Our
Lord holds up for the consideration of his hearers the various kinds of soil that
receive the seed. The good soil consists of “those who have
received the seed in rich soil: they hear the word and accept it and
yield a harvest, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold” (Mark 4:1-20).
Today we have two short parables and they are both drawn again from the
sowing of crops. Perhaps the fact that the spotlight at times falls on
one aspect of a parable, at times on another, and at other times on
another again, indicates that our Lord often drew his stories from the
farming life of his hearers. Our first parable today speaks of the
living power of the seed (Mark 4:26-34). It is not inert like
some stone or piece of wood on the ground, but has a life of its own.
The farmer who casts it this way and that onto the soil goes back home
at the end of the day to rest, and sleeps the night and awakes once
again to his work, while all the while the seed is developing. It
begins to sprout and grow - how, the farmer has not the faintest idea.
It is one of the marvels of nature. God’s reign in the hearts of men is
like that. If it is received and accepted with perseverence then God
will do his work in the heart of man. His reign will sprout and grow.
St Paul writes in one of his Letters that eye has not seen nor ear
heard what God will do for those who love him. He tells us that God’s
will is for our sanctification, and that he brings all things together
for the good of those who love him. This good is our sanctification,
and God is very active at his work. So we can hope in the sanctifying
power of Christ, just as the farmer can hope in the power of the seed.
Drawing again from
the rural life of his hearers, our Lord turns to the different classes
of seed. There is the mustard seed which “when it is sown in the
ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth. But once it is
sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants and puts forth
large branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.” (Mark 4:26-34) So not only does the
reign of God in our hearts and in the life of the world have a life of
its own, but its growth is vast. It has great proportions. The very
world can help us appreciate its vastness. We look out on the stars, we
observe our world with its profound fecundity providing a home for age
after age of the children of men, and we think of the might of God our
Father. His kingdom is of like vastness, and it is this kingdom which
Christ was beginning and establishing. Consider how small it was when
it began, with our Lord’s small band of Apostles and over the centuries
it has flowed and grown like a sea. Just before he ascended into heaven
he commanded his disciples to go to the whole world and make disciples
of all the nations. Like the mustard seed Christ’s kingdom was small at
its beginnings but it was destined to grow and become the largest of
the plants and put “forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky
can dwell in its shade.” All of this means that, firstly, however
daunting the work of personal sanctification may seem to us sinners,
God can do the work. As our Lord said, with men it is impossible, but
for God all things are possible. So there is no place for pessimism or
anything like despair in the work of seeking holiness of life. It also
means that the Church Christ founded is for all. If we wish to be
Christ’s disciples, we must be essentially apostolic. Christ our Lord
means us to take the news of him and his work to all those with whom we
live, those around us and those well beyond.
Let every disciple
of Christ understand that he or she is on a winner. Christ has won the
victory by his death and resurrection, and his kingdom will never end.
It is present but beyond our sight. Though invisible, it has a powerful
life of its own and is destined to grow to immense proportions. God
will be all in all. Let us then enter enthusiastically with Christ into
the work and never give up. Jesus Christ is Lord, and this will be the
acclamation of all eternity to come. So then, now I begin!
(E.J.Tyler)
«Unless a grain of wheat falls
to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it
dies, it produces much fruit»(John 12:24)St Gregory the Great
(540-604), pope and doctor of the Church (Homilies on Matthew,
ch.13)
“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and
sowed in a field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when
full-grown it is the largest of plants. It becomes a large bush, and
the 'birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.'" (Mt 13,31).
This small seed is for us the symbol of Jesus Christ, who, sowed into
the garden where he was buried, rose from it shortly after, through his
resurrection, as a big tree.
One can say that when he died he was like a small seed: a small seed
because of the humiliation of his flesh, but a big tree because of the
glorification of his majesty. He was like a small seed while he
appeared completely disfigured in our eyes; but a big tree as he rose
like “the most handsome of men “ (Ps 44,3).
The saint preachers of the Gospel are the branches of this mysterious
tree that a psalm describes in this way: “Their report goes forth
through all the earth, their message, to the ends of the world “ (Ps
19,5; cf Rom 10,18). The birds rest on these branches as the souls of
the just, who ascended with the wings of holiness leaving behind the
attractions of the earth, find in the words of these preachers of the
Gospel the consolation they need in the sorrows and difficulties of
this life.
(Selected
by "The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
Saint Teresa assures us that “anyone who
doesn't pray doesn't need any devil to tempt him; while whoever prays,
even if only for a quarter of an hour each day, will necessarily be
saved.” This is because our conversation with Our Lord — who is so
loving, even in times of difficulty or dryness of soul —enables us to
see things in their proper perspective and discover the true
proportions of life. Be a soul of prayer.
(The Forge,
no.1003)
Why is there a sacrament of
Reconciliation after Baptism?
Since the new life of grace received in Baptism does not abolish the
weakness of human nature nor the inclination to sin (that is,
concupiscence), Christ instituted this sacrament for the conversion of
the baptized who have been separated from him by sin.
(CCC 1425-1426,
1484)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.297)
(January 27)
St. Angela Merici (1470-1540). St Angela was born in northern
Italy. In 1516, she founded the Order of the Ursulines, the first
teaching order for women approved by the Church. Italy then was rife
with violence and open immorality. St Angela believed that the
formation of Christian women is society’s greatest need. (Saints)
Scripture today:
Hebrews
11:1-2, 8-19; Luke 1:69-70, 71-72,
73-75; Mark 4:35-41
On that day, as
evening drew on, Jesus said to his disciples: “Let us cross to the
other side.” Leaving the crowd, they took Jesus with them in the boat
just as he was. And other boats were with him. A violent squall came up
and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already filling
up. Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion. They woke him and said
to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up,
rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!” The wind
ceased and there was great calm. Then he asked them, “Why are you
terrified? Do you not yet have faith?” They were filled with great awe
and said to one another, “Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?”(Mark
4:35-41)
There is so much in
the Gospels that reveals the person of Jesus to us! Let us place
ourselves in today’s Gospel scene. It would seem from the context of
this chapter that Christ has been teaching all day. Then, “as evening
drew on, Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Let us cross to the other side.’
Leaving the crowd, they took Jesus with them in the boat just as he
was.” At various points in the Gospels our Lord directs his disciples to withdraw from
their work in order to rest for awhile. Undoubtedly, our Lord himself
had been consumed in his work all day, teaching, curing, consoling.
That his fatigue was profound is clear from the fact that, though he
was a man full of strength and energy, he was later found asleep in the
midst of the violent squall. Waves “were breaking over the boat so that
it was already filling up”, we are told (Mark 4:35-41). In the midst of this
crisis of the elements, Christ was in a deep sleep - showing his
exhaustion from what must have been a total dedication to his work
during the day. His sleep in circumstances such as these also showed
his profound tranquility of soul. Let us not imagine that this
tranquility was due to an absence of suffering. We remember how at the
threshold of his Passion he underwent his agony in the Garden and
sweated blood in his anguish. Yet when his arrest arrived and his
Passion gathered its horrifying momentum, what is remarkable in the
Gospel account is his self-possession and dominance of his situation in
the midst of unspeakable sufferings. This striking integration within
his person so evident in other contexts is manifested in his sleeping
in the midst of the storm as described in our passage today.
Undoubtedly he slept in the bosom of his heavenly Father, sleeping a
sleep that few others could imagine. At the Last Supper he promised
many blessings to his disciples, and among them was a share in his
peace - not the peace offered by the world, but his own peace, he said.
What a blessing to share in the peace of Christ! It is a peace that
accompanies the cross. We see something of it, this peace, this
tranquility, in Christ asleep in the boat.
The Christ who is
asleep is not only a Christ of tranquility, but a Christ of power and
strength. This becomes immediately evident when his frantic disciples
come to wake him. That the boat was in dire straits is clear from their
reproaching him for not caring that they were perishing. Jesus woke
from his sleep and at a word quelled the storm and there reigned a
great calm. It must have been an event of high and astounding
drama. Just imagine it! The storm that was threatening the boat and
their lives was in an instant replaced by a great calm. The noise and
turmoil was now all still and quiet. Jesus brought this about in a
matter of a moment, not by appealing to God his Father in the way that
some of the prophets had asked God for this or that miracle of nature,
but by his own simple word of command. There was no ceremony, no
preparation, no request of God. It was a simple command to the wind and
the sea that it be quiet and still. “Quiet! Be still!” he said (Mark 4:35-41). The effect on the
entire environment over the Sea of Galilee was immediate and general.
There was quiet and stillness and a great calm. Here was One who was
man - just moments ago asleep in the stern - and who at the same time
was
God commanding the wind and the sea, and they obeyed him. So let us
look on this wondrous man who is Master of the truth in his teaching
and Master of the world in his miracles. But now, this person is not a
person of the past. No, he lives now. He lives now in his body the
Church. He lives in the Sacraments of the Church, and most especially
in the Eucharist which is his very self. Just as he was the heart and
soul of the company in the buffeted boat, so now he is the heart and
soul of the Church, buffeted as it is by the course of human history.
He was the life and the strength of his disciples and he is the life
and strength of us too. So let us throw in our lot with him for he is
all we need. He lives now and he is very near. Indeed, for those who
are his friends, he is within. He is Christ within you, your hope of
glory.
Let us contemplate
Jesus in our Gospel scene today, at one moment asleep in his exhaustion
and in his profound tranquility in the hands of his heavenly Father. At
the
next moment he is subduing at a word the wind and the sea. There is no
one like him. We were made to know, love and serve him here on earth
and to see and enjoy him forever in heaven, for this man is God.
(E.J.Tyler)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In the middle of the storm(Mark 4:35-41) Saint Teresa of Avila
(1515-1582), Carmelite nun, doctor of the Church
(Letter 284,to the Carmelite nuns of Seville)
Take courage, my daughters! Take courage! Remember that God does not
send anybody more sufferings than what he is able to support and that
His Majesty is with those who suffer. You must not fear, but have faith
in his mercy that the truth will come to light and will reveal the
hidden works of the devil who has sowed turmoil amongst you...Prayer,
prayer, my sisters! It is now that humility and obedience should shine
in each one of you...
Oh, what a good moment to reap the rewards of the resolutions you took
to serve the Lord! Remember that he often likes to verify if the works
correspond to the resolutions and words. In this big trial, honor your
sisters, the daughters of the Virgin. If you apply yourselves to this,
the good Jesus will help you. Although he is asleep on the sea at the
time the great storm blows up, he stops the winds. But he wants us to
pray him, for he loves us so much that he is always looking for new
ways to make our souls progress. May his name be blessed for ever and
ever. Amen, Amen.
In all our monasteries, we commend your souls insistently to God. And I
have faith in his goodness that he will soon sort things out. So try to
be cheerful and tell yourselves that in the end all one can suffer for
such a good God is nothing compared to what he has suffered for us, for
you still haven't reached the point of shedding your blood for him (He
12,4)...Let Him do, and you will see that soon the sea will swallow up
those who wage war against us, as it happened with the Pharaoh.
(Selected by "The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
“So you are a king?”... Yes, Christ is
the King, the King who not only grants you an audience whenever you
like, but even in the madness of his love “gives up” — you know what I
mean — his magnificent palace in Heaven, which you cannot yet reach,
and waits for you in the Tabernacle.
Don't you think it is absurd not to hurry to speak to him, and not to
do so more assiduously?
(The Forge,
no.1004)
When did he institute this sacrament?
The risen Lord instituted this sacrament on the evening of Easter when
he showed himself to his apostles and said to them, “Receive the Holy
Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you
retain the sins of any, they are retained.” (John 20:22-23). (CCC 1485)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.298)
(January 28) St
Thomas Aquinas, Dominican priest and doctor of the Church (1224-1274).
He was educated at the Abbey of Monte Cassino and at the University of
Naples. In about 1244 he joined the Dominican Order. Considered one of
the greatest philosophers and theologians of all time, St Thomas gained
the title of “Angelic Doctor”. He had an undisputed mastery of
scholastic theology and a profound holiness of life. Pope Leo XIII
declared him Patron of Catholic Schools. His monumental work, the Summa
Theologiae, was still unfinished when he died. (Saints)
Jesus began
speaking in the synagogue, saying: “Today this Scripture passage is
fulfilled in your hearing.” And all spoke highly of him and were amazed at the
gracious words that came from his mouth. They also asked, “Isn’t this
the son of Joseph?” He said to them, “Surely you will quote me this
proverb, ‘Physician, cure yourself,’ and say, ‘Do here in your native
place the things that we heard were done in Capernaum.’” And he said,
“Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place.
Indeed, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of
Elijah when the sky was closed for three and a half years and a severe
famine spread over the entire land. It was to none of these that Elijah
was sent, but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon. Again,
there were many lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet;
yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” When the
people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury.
They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the
hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong. But
Jesus passed through the midst of them and went away.(Luke 4:21-30)
As we look out on
our world we cannot but be struck by its vastness and richness. No one
knows the number of galaxies there are in the universe, let alone the
number of stars. No one knows the full sweep and variety of human
history. No one knows all there is to know in the tiniest atom, nor in
any one living thing. There is no end to what we could observe and
investigate. This bafflingly complex creation which is our home, this
vast flux and flow of human history, invite us to ask if there is any
single thing in human experience which holds all created reality in
place, and which when grasped provides us with the principle of unity
in life and in all things. The key cannot be simply an idea or theory
of some individual or school of thought such as the theory of
relativity, or the
philosophy of Marxism, because a theory or an idea is just a creation
of the mind giving light to the human intellect. The linchpin of the
world cannot
be an idea. Nor can it be simply some other component of the
universe which brings benefits to other components, because that
component
itself depends on so many other things. No, there is only one thing
which may be said to constitute the heart of the world. That on which
the world and human history depends is the person of Jesus Christ.
Through him all things came to be and all that comes to be has
life in him, and that life is the life and light of men.
The
Christian is one who appreciates the uniqueness of Christ and his
supreme lordship. He is the key and he is absolutely in a class of his
own. Of course, a husband who loves his wife appreciates her
uniqueness, and vice versa. Those of other religions believe the
founder of their religion to be unique. But the Christian knows that
the person of Jesus Christ stands forth in human history and in the
universe as one who is beyond compare. No other religion claims for its
founder what Christianity claims for Christ. The essential reason for
this is that he is not a mere human person, though he is truly man. He
is a divine person. He is God. It has been revealed to us that our
universe
is the creation of one only God, and through man’s original sin he and
the world were alienated from him. The wonder is
that God actually became man to reconcile the world to himself, and
this meant that there was a man walking the earth who is the Creator of
all. When our Lord appeared publicly among men he began by making
certain claims. In our Gospel today (Luke 4:21-30) we read how in his own
town of Nazareth he claimed that the prophecy of Isaiah was being
fulfilled in his person before their very eyes. He was intimating that
he was the promised Messiah, and that they, his own townspeople, would
not accept him as such. They hustled him out of the town with the
intention of doing away with him, so he left them. His uniqueness was
not recognized.
At various
points in his public ministry he revealed to his disciples and to
others that he was the promised Messiah. But there was more, and it was
that he was the Son of God the Father, and indeed, one with the Father
in being. The Gospel of St John makes it very clear that the leaders of
the Jews could see that in speaking of God as his own father Jesus was
making himself God’s equal. On another occasion he placed himself in
the position of Yahweh
God when he said that before Abraham ever was, I am. Then after he rose
from the dead, Thomas stood before him and said “My Lord and my God.”
We ought never cease to offer our prayer of wonder and praise at God
becoming man and dwelling among us. This wondrous man who is God calls
himself our friend and brother. He said
to his disciples that you are my friends if you do what I command you.
When he rose from the dead he told Mary Magdalen to go and tell his
brothers that he had risen. Such is the God who became man - he is our
friend
and our brother. He dwells among us still, day by day in our hearts if
we are in the state of grace, and in the life of the Church and in the
Church’s Sacraments. He a divine person, the second person of the
Holy Trinity, and he took to himself a human nature with its human
soul, human mind and human will, thus making himself a man like us in
all things but sin. By this humanity he saved us all. He is the centre
of the world and of our life, and all things hinge on him. From him
comes that life in abundance which God intends us to have.
Let us base our lives on the fact that the man Jesus is not merely the
most outstanding of men, but is God himself. He is God who by means of
his humanity opened heaven to the world. In our life and in all that we
say of Jesus Christ, let us bear witness to the uniqueness of his
divine person and his human and divine nature.
(E.J.Tyler) Further reading: The Catechism of the
Catholic Church, no. 470-478
“It was
to none of these that Elijah was sent, but only to a widow in Zarephath
in the land of Sidon” (Luke
4:21-30)St Augustine
(354-430), bishop and doctor of the Church (Sermon 11, 2-3)
The Widow of Zarephath
The poor widow had gone out to look for two blocks of wood to bake some
bread: it is at this time that Elijah meets her. This woman is the
symbol of the Church; because a cross is made of two pieces of wood,
the woman, who was destined to die, searches for something by which to
live eternally. There is a hidden mystery in this...Elijah tells her:
“Go, feed me first with your poverty, and you will not run out of your
goods”. What a blessed poverty! If the widow received here on earth
such retribution, what a reward may she hope to receive in the life to
come!
I insist on this point: let us not expect to harvest the fruit of our
sowing now, at the time we sow. Here on earth, we sow with difficulty
what will be the harvest of our good works, but only later on will we
gather the fruits of this with joy, according to what is said: “Those
who go forth weeping, carrying sacks of seed, Will return with cries of
joy, carrying their bundled sheaves” (Ps 125,6). Actually Elijah's act
towards this woman was not her reward, but only a symbol of it. For if
this widow would have been rewarded here on earth for having fed the
man of God, what a miserable sowing, what a poor crop! She received
just a temporal good: a jar of flour that did not go empty and a jug of
oil that did not run dry till the day the Lord watered the earth with
his rain. This sign that was given to her by God for a few days was
therefore the symbol of the future life where our reward could not be
lessened. Our flour will be God himself! As the flour of this woman did
not run out in these days, we will not be deprived of God for all the
rest of eternity...Sow with faith and your harvest will surely come; it
will come later on, but when it will come, you will reap it endlessly.
(Selected by "The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
Do the baptized
have need of conversion?
The call of Christ to conversion continues to resound in the lives of
the baptized. Conversion is a continuing obligation for the whole
Church. She is holy but includes sinners in her midst. (CCC 1427-1429)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.299)
Jesus and his
disciples came to the other side of the sea, to the territory of the
Gerasenes. When he got out of the boat, at once a man from the tombs
who had an unclean spirit met him. The man had been dwelling among the
tombs, and no one could restrain him any longer, even with a chain. In
fact, he had frequently been bound with shackles and chains, but the
chains had been pulled apart by him and the shackles smashed, and no
one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and
on the hillsides he was always crying out and bruising himself with
stones. Catching sight of Jesus from a distance, he ran up and
prostrated himself before him, crying out in a loud voice, “What have
you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by
God, do not torment me!” (He had been saying to him, “Unclean spirit,
come out of the man!”) He asked him, “What is your name?” He replied,
“Legion is my name. There are many of us.” And he pleaded earnestly
with him not to drive them away from that territory. Now a large herd
of swine was feeding there on the hillside. And they pleaded with him,
“Send us into the swine. Let us enter them.” And he let them, and the
unclean spirits came out and entered the swine. The herd of about two
thousand rushed down a steep bank into the sea, where they were
drowned. The swineherds ran away and reported the incident in the town
and throughout the countryside. And people came out to see what had
happened. As they approached Jesus, they caught sight of the man who
had been possessed by Legion, sitting there clothed and in his right
mind. And they were seized with fear. Those who witnessed the incident
explained to them what had happened to the possessed man and to the
swine. Then they began to beg him to leave their district. As he was
getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed pleaded to remain
with him. But Jesus would not permit him but told him instead, “Go home
to your family and announce to them all that the Lord in his pity has
done for you.” Then the man went off and began to proclaim in the
Decapolis what Jesus had done for him; and all were amazed.(Mark 5:1-20)
There have been
various movies during the last few decades on devil possession. It is
very interesting to notice that in almost all such movies it is the
Catholic priest who features as the one who drives out the demon, or
who attempts to do so. Despite all its exaggerations, one of the best I
have seen is the movie “The Exorcism of Emily Rose”, a movie based
remotely on a factual case of many years ago in Bavaria. In this movie there were several
demons possessing Emily who was a good girl, and whose possession was
portrayed as permitted by God in order to serve his wider redemptive
plan. Now, in
movies of this kind the devil is characterized as a tremendous power,
most difficult to dislodge - which to some extent is in fact correct.
Let us then
turn to the Gospel accounts, such as the one given to us in today’s
Gospel. Christ and his disciples come to the pagan territory of the
Gerasenes, and he was confronted immediately by “a man from the tombs
who had an unclean spirit”. This “unclean spirit” may have been the
principal demon possessing him for when that devil was asked by our
Lord for his name, he answered “Legion is my name. There are many of
us.”(Mark 5:1-20) The evil and havoc
caused by the devils is evident in the description of the history of
this hapless individual. “The man had been dwelling among the tombs,
and no one could restrain him any longer, even with a chain. In fact,
he had frequently been bound with shackles and chains, but the chains
had been pulled apart by him and the shackles smashed, and no one was
strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the
hillsides he was always crying out and bruising himself with stones”
(Mark 5:1-20).
But in the presence of Christ all was different. The
demons knew they were in the presence of one who effortlessly dominated
them. We must have a healthy respect for the very reality of Satan and
the demonic world, but at the same time realize that the underworld is
no match for Christ.
So amid all the
threats that confront us in this world, threats coming from Satan, sin
and the effects of sin, Christ stands unseen in our midst as a source
of unending strength. He is the stronger one in the face of sickness,
the unruly natural elements, sin and the underworld. The demons in our
scene today come up to him and prostrate before him beseeching that he
not torment them. They plead with him that he not expel them from what
had become their territory. They had struck roots there! The thought of
trying to find a new nest elsewhere horrified them, suggesting that it
was not easy for the demons to find a new abode outside hell itself.
The implication just might also be that once expelled by our Lord they
would not be permitted to inhabit a person again. So they pleaded with
our Lord to let them at least go into the pigs. Notice the detail that
Christ, while firm and commanding, is nevertheless somewhat kind even
to the anguished demons. He gave them leave. The upshot of this
was that the herd of pigs perished - showing again the destructive
character of the underworld - and Christ was asked by the superstitious
inhabitants to leave the neighbourhood. This he did. So Christ is holy,
powerful and kind. In his famous Spiritual Exercises
which St Ignatius Loyola wrote to assist people to order their whole
lives to the love and
service of Christ, there is a particularly important meditation. It is
the meditation on the Two Standards. The one is the Standard of Christ,
the other the Standard of Satan. The person doing the Exercises is
invited to place himself in the presence of these two Standards, and to
make a choice between Christ and Satan. Let us do that as we
place ourselves in our Gospel scene today, thinking of Christ on the
one hand and the demons on the other. Our choice for Christ must be
from the heart, repeated over and over, and lived out in the details of
our everyday life.
Christ would not
let the newly released man follow him physically. That was not his
calling. But he was given a mission by our Lord, and this he proceeded
to do. Often in the Gospels people who had benefitted by Christ’s
healing were told by him not to tell others about it. All too often
they proceeded to disobey this request. In the case of our newly
liberated man from the
country
of the Gerasenes, he did do what our Lord asked, which was to “'Go home
to your family and announce to them all that the Lord in his pity has
done for you.' Then the man went off and began to proclaim in the
Decapolis what Jesus had done for him; and all were amazed”(Mark
5:1-20). Let
us resolve to follow Christ by doing God’s will in our everyday life,
whatever that might be.
(E.J.Tyler)
«As they approached Jesus, they
caught sight of the man who had been possessed by Legion, sitting there
clothed and in his right
mind»(Mark 5:1-20)Silvan (1866-1938),
orthodox monk (Writings)
The goal of all our struggling is to achieve humility. Our enemies, the
demons, have fallen because of pride and they drag us with them in
their fall. But we, brothers, let us be humble, and we will then see
the glory of the Lord in this world already (Mt 16,28), for the Lord
reveals himself, through the Holy Spirit, to the humble. The soul who
has tasted the sweetness of the Lord's love is totally regenerated and
becomes completely different; it loves its Lord and turns towards Him
night and day, with all its strength.
Up to a certain moment it remains peaceful in God, then it begins to
suffer for the world. The merciful Lord gives the soul both the rest in
God and a sorrowful heart for the whole world, so that all men may
repent and reach paradise.
The soul that has experienced the tenderness of the Holy Spirit wishes
everyone the same knowledge, for the gentleness of the Lord does not
allow a soul to be selfish, but it gives it the love that comes from
the heart.
(Selected by "The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
With crystal clarity I see the formula,
the secret of happiness, both earthly and eternal. It is not just a
matter of accepting the Will of God but of embracing it, of identifying
oneself with it — in a word, of loving the Divine Will with a positive
act of our own will. This, I repeat, is the infallible secret of joy
and peace.
(The Forge,
no.1006)
What is interior penance?
It is the movement of a “contrite heart” (Psalm 51:19) drawn by divine
grace to respond to the merciful love of God. This entails sorrow for
and abhorrence of sins committed, a firm purpose not to sin again in
the future and trust in the help of God. It is nourished by hope in
divine mercy. (CCC 1430-1433, 1490)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.300)
(January 30) Today let us think of St Hyacinthe Mariscotti(Saints)
Scripture today:
Hebrews
12:1-4; Psalm 22:26b-27, 28 and 30,
31-32; Mark 5:21-43
When Jesus had
crossed again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered
around him, and he stayed close to the sea. One of the synagogue
officials, named Jairus, came forward. Seeing him he fell at his feet
and pleaded earnestly with him, saying, “My daughter is at the point of
death. Please, come lay your hands on her that she may get well and
live.” He went off with him and a large crowd followed him. There was a
woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years. She had suffered
greatly at the hands of many doctors and had spent all that she had.
Yet she was not helped but only grew worse. She had heard about Jesus
and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak. She said,
“If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured.” Immediately her flow of
blood dried up. She felt in her body that she was healed of her
affliction. Jesus, aware at once that power had gone out from him,
turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who has touched my clothes?” But
his disciples said to him, “You see how the crowd is pressing upon you,
and yet you ask, Who touched me?” And he looked around to see who had
done it. The woman, realizing what had happened to her, approached in
fear and trembling. She fell down before Jesus and told him the whole
truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace
and be cured of your affliction.” While he was still speaking, people
from the synagogue official’s house arrived and said, “Your daughter
has died; why trouble the teacher any longer?” Disregarding the message
that was reported, Jesus said to the synagogue official, “Do not be
afraid; just have faith.” He did not allow anyone to accompany him
inside except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. When they
arrived at the house of the synagogue official, he caught sight of a
commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. So he went in and said to
them, “Why this commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but
asleep.” And they ridiculed him. Then he put them all out. He took
along the child’s father and mother and those who were with him and
entered the room where the child was. He took the child by the hand and
said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you,
arise!” The girl, a child of twelve, arose immediately and walked
around. At that they were utterly astounded. He gave strict orders that
no one should know this and said that she should be given something to
eat.
(Mark 5:21-43)
In the history of
man’s religions a constant refrain is the attempt to access
supernatural power in order to overcome some menace. A leading British
anthropologist of primal religions (Evans-Pritchard) once wrote that a
key to the interpretation of any particular primal religion is the
method it uses to deal with evil and suffering. If we consider a number
of religions it does seem that the myths and rituals are often in place
precisely to be used for the benefit of the practitioners of that
religion. I remember attending a lecture at the University of Sydney by
a Zoroastrian scholar (i.e., his personal faith was the Zoroastrian
religion) and it was his view that most religions were a technology -
that is, something which is used and developed to gain a benefit from
the higher powers. I suppose this is indeed the constant danger and it
can lead to religion becoming the practice of magic. Certain steps are
taken either occasionally or regularly in the belief that they give
access to greater power over what is perceived to be evil and
suffering, be it hunger, sickness, or whatever. Religion as a personal
relationship with a personal higher power who is to be genuinely
worshiped can very easily be lost sight of. In fact it might be said
that one of the most distinctive features of Revealed Religion is that
all things, seen or unseen, are understood as having one ultimate
source. There is one only God who is the creator and sustainer of
everything. Moreover, this one God is to be loved, and loved with all
one’s heart. So God is to be venerated as a Person and not to be
regarded as a supernatural force to be simply used for man’s benefit
through certain rituals. Religion is a love affair and not a
technology. God is to be approached and petitioned as one approaches
and petitions a person, and benefits that result are to be acknowledged
as gifts coming from his personal goodness and mercy. In the plan of
the Creator there is no place for magic in man’s dealings with him.
Now, in our Gospel
passage today “one of the synagogue officials, named Jairus, came
forward. Seeing Jesus he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with
him, saying, ‘My daughter is at the point of death. Please, come lay
your hands on her that she may get well and live’.” Does our Lord
simply say to him that he is to go back and he will find his daughter
well again? No, our Lord does what he is asked to do, he actually goes
with him to do what was requested. It emphasizes the very personal
character of the benefit he is about to bring. The healing will be a
gift from a person and not a just a process that is triggered by a
request. He is on his way there, when secretly from the midst of the
crowd a poor woman approaches. She had been “afflicted with hemorrhages
for twelve years.” She was desperate for a cure, and we are told that
“she had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and
touched his cloak. She said, ‘If I but touch his clothes, I shall be
cured’.” Now, she just may have looked to Jesus in something of the way
a person looks to magic. If only she could touch this source of power,
the healing would come automatically. Whatever about this possibility,
our Lord’s reaction clarified the true position immediately. “Aware at
once that power had gone out from him,” he stopped and turned around,
looked about and asked who touched him. Our Lord was acting here within
his human nature and seeking to know who it was that had touched him.
He wanted to meet and speak to the one who had benefitted from contact
with him. The woman came forward and told him what had happened, and
our Lord sent her on her way commending her for her faith and
reassuring her that she was cured of her affliction. The point to
notice here, though, is that our Lord insisted on showing that the
benefit received came from him and not from a mere process. Religion
involves faith in a real and active divine person. It is not a
technology bordering on magic.
Let us spend our
lives cultivating a personal relationship with each of the three divine
Persons. Our way to God is through the man Jesus, through his humanity.
In and through the Son of God made man we come to know the Father and
the Divine Spirit.
Our Lord said at the Last Supper that eternal life is this, to know
you, Father, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Let us not just use
religion to deal with our afflictions and sufferings, but let us live
it out as a personal love affair with God. Religion, as
Cardinal Newman once wrote, is a matter between God and my soul.
(E.J.Tyler)
"If I
but touch his clothes, I shall be cured." (Mark 5:21-43) Saint Ambrose (about
340-397), bishop of Milan and doctor of the Church
(Commentary on St.
Luke, 6, 57-59)
It is our faith that touches the Christ; it is our faith that sees him.
It isn't our body that touches him; our eyes cannot seize him. For
seeing without perceiving is not seeing; hearing without understanding,
is not hearing, nor touching if one doesn't touch with faith...
If we consider the size of our faith and are aware of the greatness of
the Son of God, we realize that, in relation to Him, we can only touch
his clothes; we cannot reach beyond. Therefore, if we too want to be
healed by him, let us touch Christ's clothes through our faith. He is
aware of all those who touch his clothes, who touch him while he has
his back turned. For God doesn't need eyes to see; he doesn't have
physical senses, but he has in himself the knowledge of all things.
Happy then those who are able to touch at least the brim of the Word:
for who can seize it entirely?
(Selected by "The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
What forms does penance
take in the Christian life?
Penance can be expressed in many and various ways but above all in
fasting, prayer, and almsgiving. These and many other forms of penance
can be practiced in the daily life of a Christian, particularly during
the time of Lent and on the penitential day of Friday. (CCC 1434-1439)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.301)
(January 31) Saint John Bosco,
priest (1815-1888). St John Bosco founded the Salesian Society,
named in honour of St Francis de Sales, and the Daughters of Mary, Help
of Christians. His lifework was the welfare of young boys and girls,
hence his title “Apostle of Youth. He had no formal system or theory of
education. His methods centred on persuasion, authentic religiosity,
and love for young people. He was an enlightened educator and
innovator. (Saints)
Jesus departed from
there and came to his native place, accompanied by his disciples. When
the sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard
him were astonished. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What
kind of wisdom has been given him? What mighty deeds are wrought by his
hands! Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of
James and Joseph and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with
us?” And they took offense at him. Jesus said to them,“A prophet is not
without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in
his own house.” So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there,
apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them. He was
amazed at their lack of faith.(Mark 6:1-6)
Let us place
ourselves in the Gospel scene of today in the company of our Lord and
his disciples. His public ministry had begun in Judea, he had returned
to Galilee and was becoming known for a great prophet, great in the
authority of his teaching and in the power of his miracles. Mark
devotes thirteen chapters to our Lord’s public ministry prior to his
passion, and it is not till the sixth chapter that he returns to Nazareth. So
there are five chapters of public ministry involving teaching and
miracles prior to his public appearance in his home town. Perhaps our
Lord had left to this stage his return to Nazareth in his new capacity
so that the fame of his work might prepare his townspeople for his new
revelation about himself. He knew they would be surprised, for after
all, they had seen him grow up, they had mixed constantly with him as a
youth, young man and fellow townsman. Undoubtedly they knew him to be a
very good and religious person, but one senses from the texts that they
had divined nothing of the unique and extraordinary character of his
person so long in their midst. This itself is revealing of the humility
and normalcy of our Lord’s day to day life among them. Nevertheless,
they had definitely heard of the extraordinary things he was doing, for
in our text today they wonder how it is that such “mighty deeds are
wrought by his hands!”. So our Lord would have expected and hoped that
his townspeople whom undoubtedly he loved with a special love of family
and long-standing social ties would respond to his teaching and
presence. But no. We are told that “they took offense at him.” Indeed,
St Mark informs us that our Lord “was amazed at their lack of faith.”
Let us not underestimate the significance of our Lord being amazed at
his townspeople’s lack of due acceptance of his claims and teaching. If
our Lord was amazed, then it is an indication that it was indeed
amazing.
The amazing refusal
to respond occurred in spite of what they actually saw in his teaching.
They beheld an extraordinary wisdom. Many who heard him were
astonished. They said, “Where did the man get all this? What kind of
wisdom has been given him? What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands!”
What then caused them to stumble before the invitation to believe? One
senses that it was a simple matter of pride. They could not bring
themselves humbly to acknowledge that here was one before whom they
must bow spiritually, and follow with a profound faith. Their attitude
and behaviour towards their long-standing relative and townsman would
have to change to one of a profound respect. They would have to place
their faith in him. The problem was pride, it would seem. This
attachment to sin was the hidden obstacle. In view of all that our Lord
had done elsewhere, in view of his revelation of himself in his
teaching before them on his return, our Lord found it amazing that
their response was so very poor. It seems he made no progress in his
own town, including among at least many of his own kin, because Jesus
said to them,“A prophet is not without honor except in his native place
and among his own kin and in his own house.” The great exception, of
course, was his own all-holy mother. The result of this culpable lack
of faith was that our Lord was not able to do in Nazareth what he had
already done in so many other places in Galilee. “He was not able to
perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by
laying his hands on them.” (Mark
6:1-6) So we
have in our Gospel text today an instance of faith in Christ being
refused. The heart of man is a great mystery. It can respond to the
light, or it can freely refuse it. The issue is, what is the heart of
man attached to? Is it attached to God, or to other things for the sake
of self?
Let us place
ourselves before Christ our Lord as he teaches in the synagogue of
Nazareth, taking our place with his disciples and most especially in
the company of his greatest and most perfect disciple, his blessed
mother. Let us look on him as he teaches. Let us accept his teaching
wholeheartedly as teaching coming from God’s Messiah who is also God’s
only begotten Son. He is the light of every man, the light of the
world, and the light of my life. Jesus Christ is Lord.
(E.J.Tyler)
“Where did he get all this?”
– (Mark 6:1-6) Christ, the new AdamJoseph Cardinal Ratzinger
[Pope Benedict XVI] (Einführung in das
Christentum)
“I believe in Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, our Lord.”
(Creed) Christian faith recognizes in Jesus of Nazareth the exemplary
human being. This seems to be the best way to understand Saint Paul’s
idea that Christ is “the last Adam” (1 Cor 15:45). But it is precisely
as the exemplary human being, as the classic example of the human
being, that Jesus transcends the limits of what is human; only by means
of that is he the truly exemplary human being. For the human being is
truly himself to the extent to which he is with another. He finds
himself only in leaving himself; he only finds himself through another…
And in the final analysis, the human being is geared towards… the one
who is truly other, towards God… He is entirely himself when he ceases
to remain in himself, to be turned in on himself, to affirm himself,
when he is nothing but opening to God.
But so that the human being might become fully human, God must become
man. It is only then that… the passage from the “animal” to the
“spiritual” is definitively accomplished. Then, the earthly being,
looking beyond himself, can say “You” to God. It is this opening to the
Infinite which constitutes the human being… And this is the one who is
the most human, the true Adam, the one who is the most unlimited, who
not only enters into contact with the Infinite, but who is one with
him: Jesus Christ…
If the true essence of the human being as God imagined him is
manifested fully in Jesus, he cannot be destined to form an absolute
exception, a curiosity… His existence has to do with the whole of
humanity… He is destined to gather together in himself the whole human
race. He must “draw to himself” all of humanity (Jn 12:32) so as to
form what Saint Paul calls the “Body of Christ”.
(Selected by "The Daily
Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
In the hour of temptation, practise the
virtue of Hope, saying: For my rest and enjoyment I have the whole of
eternity ahead of me. Here and now, full of Faith, I will earn my rest
through work and win my joy through suffering. What will Love be like
in Heaven!
Better still, you should practise your Love by saying: What I want is
to please my God, my Love, by doing his Will in all things, as though
there were neither reward nor punishment —simply to please him.
(The Forge,
no.1008)
What are the essential elements of the
sacrament of Reconciliation?
The essential elements are two: the acts of the penitent who comes to
repentance through the action of the Holy Spirit, and the absolution of
the priest who in the name of Christ grants forgiveness and determines
the ways of making satisfaction.
(CCC 1440-1449)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.302)
Jesus summoned the
Twelve and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority
over unclean spirits. He instructed them to take nothing for the
journey but a walking stick --no food, no sack, no money in their
belts. They were, however, to wear sandals but not a second tunic. He
said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave
from there. Whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you, leave
there and shake the dust off your feet in testimony against them.” So
they went off and preached repentance. The Twelve drove out many
demons, and they anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.(Mark 6:7-13)
It is traditionally
thought that the Gospel of St Mark is based on - and perhaps is a
reproduction of - the preaching, teaching and reminiscences of St
Pater. Let us assume that this is so, and imagine Simon Peter thinking
back to that precious and fond time with the Lord during his public
ministry. Our Gospel passage today tells us of how our Lord “began” to
send them out on his behalf. He “summoned the Twelve and began to send
them out two by two and gave them authority over unclean spirits.” (Mark 6:7-13) They were to go out with
what was necessary and nothing more, depending simply on Jesus and his
word and direction. They were to be detached from personal
considerations and to take what might come. The mission was all that
mattered, and they were to conduct their mission together with Jesus in
spirit, and in his spirit. So they went off, and what did they preach?
They preached repentance. We remember that John the Baptist preached
repentance, and had a baptism symbolizing repentance and the
forgiveness of sins. Not long after our Lord was baptized, he began his
public ministry by preaching repentance, for the kingdom of God was at
hand. The Twelve had the same message to announce. People were to be
exhorted to turn away from sin, to be alive to the reality and evil of
sin, and to prepare for its remission by God. God’s rule was coming, a
rule that would involve holiness of life in union with him. How it
would come and what precisely this would involve, was not yet revealed.
The one thing which would prevent the blessings of God being poured out
on mankind and each person was sin. If sin were to be clung to, the
Messiah’s work would not attain its goal. All must repent. It is a
message our Gospel today directs towards each of us.
But now, there was
one among the Twelve whose path was a tremendous disappointment to
Christ. I refer to Judas Iscariot who is always mentioned in the Gospel
at the end of the list of the Twelve, and is described as the betrayer.
Jesus chose him to be one of the Twelve to be with him and to be sent
out to preach. He was one of those to whom our Lord gave the name of
Apostle, or his Envoy, his Ambassador. He was not just a disciple who
followed and learnt, but an official Envoy. He represented the Messiah
and in the future he would have been one of the great foundation stones
of the Church, called to be a saint of God. He must have been a person
of real promise for Christ made no mistakes in the matter of redemption
of the world. In our passage today he was one of those whom our Lord
sent out in training and to prepare for his coming ahead of him. He was
instructed in the message to be delivered. With the others he drove out
many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.
Very significantly, he “went off and peached repentance.” But he
himself failed to repent. Little by little he allowed his sins to
remain and indeed to grow. He stole from the common purse. He gradually
refused faith in Jesus. At the synagogue of Capernaum Christ announced
his doctrine of the Eucharist and as a result he lost many of his
disciples. On that occasion our Lord said to the Twelve that one of
them was a devil. Judas was refusing faith. His heart was turning away
from love of Jesus and acceptance of his teaching. If only he had
repented! If only he had recognized his sins and turned to the Master
he was accompanying and sought his help in overcoming them. Christ
could have made a saint of him.
Judas preached
repentance, but it was his lack of repentance that ruined him and
opened him up to Satan. St John tells us that at the Last Supper Satan
entered him and he went out into the night. He never came back into the
light. Let us learn from his horrifying case that though we have been
called to the constant company of Jesus we must be vigilant against
sin. We must recognize it and repent constantly of it. :Let us pray to
the Holy Spirit for the precious grace of true and constant repentance.
(E.J.Tyler)
«Jesus
summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two» (Mark 6:7-13) Thomas of Celano (about
1190-about 1260), biographer of Saint Francis and Saint Claire
(The First Life of
Saint Francis, § 29)
At this same time also, when another good man had entered their
religion, their number rose to eight. Then the blessed Francis called
them all together, and telling them many things concerning the kingdom
of God, the contempt of the world, the renunciation of their own will,
and the subduing of their own body, he separated them into four groups
of two each and said to them: “Go, my dearest brothers, two by two into
the various parts of the world, announcing to men peace and repentance
unto the forgiveness of sins; and be patient in tribulation, confident
that the Lord will fulfill his purpose and his promise. To those who
put questions to you, reply humbly; bless those who persecute you; give
thanks to those who injure you and calumniate you; because for these
things there is prepared for you an eternal kingdom (Mt 5,10-11).
But they, accepting the command of holy obedience with joy and great
gladness, cast themselves upon the ground before St. Francis. But he
embraced them and said to each one with sweetness and affection: “Cast
thy thought upon the Lord, and he will nourish you”. This word he spoke
whenever he transferred any brothers in obedience.
(Selected by "The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
Whenever the worrying thought enters your
head that you lack rectitude of intention — sometimes it may come like
a flash of lightning, at other times like a filthy pestering fly which
you brush off but which keeps coming back — always make acts of right
intention straight away, and carry on working calmly for Him and with
Him.
At the same time, even though you might feel you are only pronouncing
the words mechanically, say slowly: Lord, I want nothing for myself.
May everything be for your glory and for your Love.
(The Forge, no.1009)
What are
the acts of the penitent? They are: a careful examination of
conscience; contrition (or repentance), which is perfect when it is
motivated by love of God and imperfect if it rests on other motives and
which includes the determination not to sin again; confession, which
consists in the telling of one’s sins to the priest; and satisfaction
or the carrying out of certain acts of penance which the confessor
imposes upon the penitent to repair the damage caused by sin. (CCC
1450-1460, 1487-1492)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.303)
(February 2) Feast
of the
Presentation of the Lord Today we celebrate the presentation of
our Lord in the Temple and his consecration to God as Mary’s
‘first-born’.The feast was first observed in the Eastern Church as ‘The
Encounter’. In the sixth century it began to be observed in the West:
in Rome with a more penitential character, and in Gaul (France) with
solemn blessings and processions of candles, popularly known as
‘Candlemas’. The presentation of the Lord concludes the celebration of
the Nativity and, with the offerings of the Virgin Mother and the
prophecy of Simeon, the events now point towards Easter. (Saints)
When the days were
completed for their purification according to the law of Moses, Mary
and Joseph took Jesus up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, just
as it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that opens the womb
shall be consecrated to the Lord, and to offer the sacrifice of a pair
of turtledoves or two young pigeons, in accordance with the dictate in
the law of the Lord. Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was
Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, awaiting the consolation of
Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him
by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the
Christ of the Lord. He came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the
parents brought in the child Jesus to perform the custom of the law in
regard to him, he took him into his arms and blessed God, saying: “Now,
Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word,
for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in the sight
of all the peoples: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory
for your people Israel.” The child’s father and mother were amazed at
what was said about him; and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his
mother, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many
in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted (and you yourself
a sword will pierce) so that the thoughts of many hearts may be
revealed.” There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of
Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived
seven years with her husband after her marriage, and then as a widow
until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple, but worshiped
night and day with fasting and prayer. And coming forward at that very
time, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were
awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem. When they had fulfilled all the
prescriptions of the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to
their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and became strong, filled
with wisdom; and the favour of God was upon him.(Luke 2:22-40)
This is a beautiful
scene in St Luke’s Gospel, and five people occupy the stage. There are
Mary and Joseph arriving in the Temple of Jerusalem with the child
Jesus to present him to the Lord, in accordance with what was written
in the Law of the Lord. There are also Simeon and the
prophetess Anna. The centre-stage is occupied by Simeon. He “was
righteous and devout, awaiting the consolation of Israel, and the Holy
Spirit was upon him.” He is the man he is, and he does what he does,
because “the Holy Spirit was upon him.” So we could say that in this
scene the Holy Spirit is the principal though unseen protagonist.
Simeon “was righteous and devout” and his personal sanctity was the
first great work of the Spirit of God in his life. He was an
excellent embodiment of the very best of the Old Testament, and when we
think of it, with Mary and Joseph and the Child there with him and soon
to be joined by Anna we have what we might call the holiest grouping of
people ever to have gathered in the history of salvation to that point.
The sanctity of that small and unnoticed group was the work of the Holy
Spirit. Furthermore, the Holy Spirit had actually revealed to Simeon
that “he should not see death before he had seen the Christ of
the Lord.” As a man of the Old Testament Simeon looked forward to the
coming of the Messiah, and the Holy Spirit had been revealing to him
that he would actually see the Messiah before he died. And now, with
the parents of Jesus in the Temple Simeon was led by the Holy Spirit to
the couple, and in the Spirit he praised and thanked God and uttered
his prophecy about the Child whom he held in his arms.
It is interesting
to notice that through the words of Simeon the Holy Spirit
revealed to the parents of Jesus and especially to Mary his
mother some new things about the Child and his mission. The angel had
told Mary and Joseph who the child was and that his mission would be to
save his people from their sins. Here they learn that “this child is
destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that
will be contradicted (and you yourself a sword will pierce) so that the
thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” (Luke 2:22-40) Somehow rejection and
immense suffering would be an integral part of his redeeming work. He
would be the glory of Israel and the light of the Gentiles. This they
knew, but now they learn that the shadow of great suffering would fall
over him, just as it would over those who love him and choose to be
with him. The first and principal case of this would be his own mother
whose soul would be pierced with a sword. We could say that through
Simeon the Holy Spirit is identifying the Suffering Servant of Isaiah
with the great Child in their midst. He was the Messiah, but he would
be a suffering Messiah and one who would face great contradictions and
rejection. His holy mother, the greatest of his disciples, would share
in this suffering (and implicitly, so would all who follow him
closely). This was Simeon’s prophecy and it added to what Mary and
Joseph already knew. So it seems that the Holy Spirit had been training
Simeon in holiness and preparing him for the moment when he would
enlighten the parents of the Child in the plan of God. Mary, we are
told in these early chapters of Luke, treasured everything in her
heart. She was being aided in her role as mother of the Redeemer.
Let us contemplate
the person and action of the Holy Spirit. In his Acts of the Apostles,
St Luke takes a special interest in the Holy Spirit and his action in
the early Church. From the earliest chapters of his Gospel he is
likewise attending to the person and the action of the Holy Spirit. He
sanctifies and prepares people for the coming of the Redeemer. Thinking
of the example of Simeon, let us ask the Spirit of God to come into our
lives with power, enabling us to be holy in God’s sight, and truly
equipped to bear witness to Jesus before the world.
(E.J.Tyler)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- «A light for revelation to the
Gentiles» (Luke 2:22-40) Blessed Guerric of Igny
(about 1080-1157), Cistercian abbot (1st Sermon for the
Purification, 2-3)
Who is the one today who, as he holds a lighted candle in his hand,
does not immediately think about this old man who on this day received
Jesus in his arms, the Word in the flesh, the light in the wax, and who
witnessed that he was the light that shines upon all nations? And the
old man was himself a burning flame that enlightens, that gives witness
to the light, he who, in the Holy Spirit of which he was filled, came
to receive, o God, your Love within your Temple (Ps 47,10) and witness
that you are the Love and the Light of your people...
Rejoice, just old man; look now at what you had once foreseen: darkness
has disappeared from the world; the Nations walk by your light (Is
60,3). The whole earth is filled with the glory (Is 6,3) of this light
that in the past you used to hide in your heart and that today
illuminates your eyes...Embrace, oh blessed old man, the Wisdom of God,
and may your youth be renewed (Ps 102,5). Receive in your heart the
mercy of God, and your old age will get to know the sweetness of mercy.
“He will rest in my bosom”, says the Scripture (Sg 1,12). Even when I
will give him back to his mother, he will continue dwelling with me; my
heart will be filled with his mercy, and much more the heart of his
mother...I give thanks and rejoice for you, full of grace, you gave
birth to the mercy that I received; the candle you prepared, I hold it
in my hands...
And you, brothers, look at the candle that burns in the hands of
Simeon, light your candles with his light...Then, not only will you
bring a light in your hands, but you will be yourselves a light for
others. Light in your hearts, light in your lives, light for your
brothers.
(Selected by "The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
It is all the same to you, you
tell me, to be here or in China. Well then, try to be always where you
are fulfilling the Holy Will of God.
(The
Forge, no.1010)
Which sins must be confessed?
All grave sins not yet confessed, which a careful examination of
conscience brings to mind, must be brought to the sacrament of Penance.
The confession of serious sins is the only ordinary way to obtain
forgiveness. (CCC 1456)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.304)
(February 3) St Blaise, bishop and
martyr (4th century).
He enjoyed widespread veneration in the Eastern and Western Churches
due to many cures attributed to him. According to tradition, he was
Bishop of Sebaste in Armenia and was martyred under Licinius (Saints) St Angsar,
bishop (801-864). Born in Bremen, Germany, Ansgar became known
as the “Apostle of the North” for his great evangelical work in Denmark
and Sweden. He was Bishop of Hamburg and then of Bremen. Gregory IV
appointed him as his legate to Denmark and Sweden. In reply to those
who questioned some miracles to him he said, ‘Were God to choose me to
do such things I would ask him for one miracle only: that by his power
he would make me a good man.’ (Saints)
The Apostles
gathered together with Jesus and reported all they had done and taught.
He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest
a while.” People were coming and going in great numbers, and they had
no opportunity even to eat. So they went off in the boat by themselves
to a deserted place. People saw them leaving and many came to know
about it. They hastened there on foot from all the towns and arrived at
the place before them. When Jesus disembarked and saw the vast crowd,
his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep
without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.(Mark 6: 30-34)
Early in this sixth
chapter of St Mark’s Gospel our Lord summons the Twelve, instructs them
on how they are to conduct their mission, gives them authority to
preach and heal and cast out demons, and then sends them out in pairs.
Then there follows in the chapter a digression narrating
Herod’s curiosity about Christ and his execution of John the Baptist,
after which our passage resumes with the Apostles returning to Jesus
from their mission. The Twelve had been busy at the work he had given
them and had much to tell our Lord. He listened, undoubtedly questioned
them as to the content of their preaching, how they had preached it,
and who and how they had assisted with their healings and exorcisms. We
can imagine the confidence he inspired in them as they talked, and the
gentle correction and further instruction gave them in preparation for
their mission of the months and years to come. They were taking their
first steps and he would have been looking ahead to when the Church
would be launched and sustained by the Holy Spirit whom he and the
Father would send. In the Church to come he would have seen each of us.
Let us think of the love with which he gazed on his Twelve. He had
chosen them to be with him and to be sent out on his behalf. In them he
would have seen all those called to be members of the Church which he
was establishing on their foundation. As they were called to be
his special friends, so too are we. With good reason we can place
ourselves in their company. And so we read that “he said to them, ‘Come
away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.’ People were
coming and going in great numbers, and they had no opportunity even to
eat. So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place.”
As we think of this scene of Christ in the midst of the Twelve and then
leading them away for rest and further instruction, let us think of his
love for them and for the Church to come which was being built on them.
So they went off in
the boat by themselves to a deserted place. But we read that “people
saw them leaving and many came to know about it. They hastened there on
foot from all the towns and arrived at the place before them. When
Jesus disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity
for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to
teach them many things” (Mark
6: 30-34).
The same love that filled the heart of Christ for the Twelve and for
the Church which would be built on them now showed itself to the crowds
that clamoured for his attention in this deserted place. We are told
that it was a vast crowd that had hurriedly arrived on foot. We are
told in the Gospel of St John that Christ had no need to be told what
was in the heart of man, for he could read men’s hearts. As he
disembarked and saw the crowd, gazing on the faces of so many
individuals, men, women and children, he could see that “they were like
sheep without a shepherd.” His feelings were feelings of pity and
compassion, and undoubtedly the crowds knew it and had long since seen
it. He drew to himself sinners and the poor because of his compassion
for them. His unceasing work and readiness to continue working despite
lack of rest and time for food was the result of his love and
compassion. Time and again in the Gospels we see that Christ simply had
no time. He would often spend the night in prayer to God his Father. In
the fourth chapter of St John we read that on his way from Judea to
Galilee he passed through Samaria. At Jacob’s well he sat down by the
well, tired, while his disciples went in for food. His weariness shows
his constant work which itself shows his great love. So too on the
occasion presented to us in our Gospel scene today. Having arrived at
the deserted place to be with his disciples alone and resting, full of
compassion he sets himself to teach the crowds at great length. There
is no end to the love of Christ for man.
As we think of
Christ with the Twelve and then with the vast crowds, let us think of
his loving compassion and of the enormous importance of his teaching.
The teaching of Christ is God’s revelation to man. This revelation
manifests his love for the world and for each one of us. It is a love
that is compassionate and full of understanding for man’s plight which
is that of sheep without a shepherd. His person, his love and his
teaching is the answer to man’s need. Let us entrust ourselves to the
care of the risen living Jesus, and resolve to live by his teaching.
(E.J.Tyler)
«They
hastened there on foot from all the towns and arrived at the place
before them. When he disembarked, Jesus saw the
vast crowd» (Mark
6: 30-34) Silvan (1866-1938),
Orthodox monk (Writings)
The Lord forgave me a vast number of sins and granted me to know, by
the Holy Spirit, how much he loves men. The heavens are all filled with
wonder at the sight of the Lord made flesh: how he, the Lord the
highest, came to save us, sinners, and how he obtained for us the
eternal rest through his sufferings. My soul does not care about the
earthly realities, but it is attracted there where the Lord is. Sweet
to the heart are the words of the Lord when the Holy Spirit allows the
soul to understand them.
While the Lord lived on earth, a big crowd followed him; for several
days, these men could not separate from him, but forgetting to eat,
they were hungry of listening to his sweet words. The soul loves the
Lord, and everything that prevents him from thinking of God grieves it.
And if already on earth the soul can experience so strongly the
sweetness of the Holy Spirit, how much more will its joy be up there!
O Lord, with what love have you loved your creature! My soul cannot
forget your peaceful and loving look.
(Selected by "The Daily Gospel", New Hope, KY 40052. USA.)
Much depends on you too. If you
respond many will remain in darkness no longer, but will walk instead
along paths that lead to everlasting life.
(The Forge,
no.1011)
When is a person obliged to confess
mortal sins?
Each of the faithful who has reached the age of discretion is bound to
confess his or her mortal sins at least once a year and always before
receiving Holy Communion.
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.305)
Pope Benedict
XVI's
general prayer intention
for the month of January
2007: "That in
our time, unfortunately
marked by many episodes of violence, the pastors of the Church may
continue to indicate the way of peace and understanding among peoples."
Solemnity
of the Blessed Virgin Mary, The Mother of God
Why is blasphemy
against the Holy Spirit unforgivable? How should this blasphemy be
understood? St. Thomas Aquinas replies that it is a question of a sin
that is "unforgivable by its very nature, insofar as it excludes the
elements through which the forgiveness of sin takes place." According
to such an exegesis, "blasphemy" does not properly consist in offending
against the Holy Spirit in words; it consists rather in the refusal to
accept the salvation which God offers to man through the Holy Spirit,
working through the power of the Cross. If man rejects the "convincing
concerning sin" which comes from the Holy Spirit (Jn 16:8) and which
has the power to save, he also rejects the "coming" of the Counselor
(Jn 16:7) that "coming" which was accomplished in the Paschal Mystery,
in union with the redemptive power of Christ's Blood: the Blood which
"purifies the conscience from dead works." (He 9:14)